
CopyiightN 



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COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT. 



THE 

KAISER'S SPEECHES 

FORMING A CHARACTER PORTRAIT OF 

EMPEROR WILLIAM II. 



TRANSLATED AND EDITED 
WITH ANNOTATIONS BY 

WOLF VON SCHIERBRAND 

BASED UPON A COMPILATION 
MADE BY 

A. OSCAR KLAUSSMANN 




HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 

NEW YORK AND LONDON 

1903 



THE LIBRARY OF 
CONGRESS, 

Tv\o Copies Received 

APR 1? 19€3 

Copyiiglit Entry 

CLASS ^ XXc. No. 

COPY B. 



» » «! 1 « < 



Copyright, 1903, by Harper & Brothers. 



^// rights reser-ved. 
Published April, 1903. 



NOTE 



A WORD as to the material used in the preparation 
of this book Above all, let it be said that it is strictly 
authentic. Every care has been taken to eliminate 
from the contents statements which could not be traced 
to a trustworthy source. The larger number of the 
speeches and other utterances by the present German 
Emperor were taken in their German guise from the 
very recent compilation sanctioned by the Kaiser him- 
self and published by A. Oscar Klaussmann, a well- 
known writer in Germany. They were rendered into 
English by me. The others that appear in this book 
were obtained from similarly trustworthy data — the 
original German versions being also used in every in- 
stance. 

The comment and explanatory text are mine. These 
must be accepted by the reader for what they are 
worth. It may help to gauge their value accurately 
if mention is made that I spent many years in Ber- 
lin as chief correspondent for the Associated Press of 
America, returning recently to this country. It has 
been my earnest endeavor to make both explanations 
and comment accurate and unbiased. 

It was found necessary to include material in this 
book not found in Klaussmann' s compilation. Possi- 
bly these omissions in the latter are due to the fact 
that this category of imperial expressions no longer 
finds imperial approval. This additional material was, 

iii 



NOTE 

however, included, because without it no full view of 
the strangely many-sided character of William II. 
could be had. On the other hand, much of the mat- 
ter in Klaussmann's compilation has been either ab- 
breviated or left out. The sole reason for this was in 
every case that it was not of sufficient general inter- 
est, that it was elsewhere repeated (literally or in 
substance), or that it was merely introductory to the 
core of the subject itself. 

The Italians have a saying, Traduttore, traditore — 
''The translator is a traitor." I venture to hope that 
the English garb I have given the Kaiser's German 
speeches will not corroborate this pithy and pictu- 
resque statement, for I have throughout striven hard 
to reproduce the essentials of the original — viz., the 
train of thought, the spirit of each utterance, and the 
peculiar phrasing of it. However, I am free to con- 
fess that the task of putting the Kaiser's German into 
adequate English has been more than ordinarily dif- 
ficult, inasmuch as his German is very idiomatic — 
bristling with proverbs, sayings, and peculiar modes 
of speech (many of them self-coined), and showing 
that wonderful flexibility of German syntax, coupled, 
however, with as wonderful complexity of construc- 
tion. In some cases the new English garment will not 
fit quite as neatly as might be wished. Yet this at 
least may be claimed for it : it is as true to the original 
as the limitations of language would permit. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS 



PAGE 



By Way of Preface xiii 

Introductory xxi 



THE 
KAISER FOR PEACE AND RECONCILIATION 

I. The Maintenance of World Peace. — The Kaiser's visits 
to Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, iindertaken, after ascend- 
ing the throne, for purposes of conciliation and friendship — 
Emphatic rejection of French hints to purchase permanent 
peace by restoring Alsace-Lorraine — Significant speeches dur- 
ing his visit to England — Relations with his Austrian and 
Italian allies — Toasting the Czar — The Kaiser and the cession 
of Heligoland — Receiving the Austrian and Italian monarchs 
in Berlin— The death of Alexander III. — Peace manifestations 
at the opening of the Baltic Canal Page 3 



II. The Kaiser and France. — His interesting relations with 
the French statesman, Jules Simon — A graphic portrait 
— Failure of the Empress Frederick's visit to Paris — Tele- 
grams and letters of condolence — The Kaiser and the Dreyfus 
affair — The incident of the Iphigenie — Kaiser's magnan- 
imous speech on the battle-field of St. Privat — His toast 
to his French guest, General Bonnal, and to the French 
army Page 27 



III. The Kaiser and the Catholic Church. — Clear rec- 
ognition of the necessity of re-establishing religious harmony 

V 



CONTENTS 

in the empire — Interesting letters to Cardinal Hohenlohe — 
His first interview with the Pope — Patriotic addresses to new 
German Catholic Church dignitariCvS — Correspondence with 
the Roman Pontiff — Second meeting with Leo XIII. — Gift 
of the Dormition in Palestine to the German Catholics — The 
Kaiser's mention at Aix-la-Chapelle of a papal utterance re- 
garding himself Page 55 



IV. The Kaiser and the Laboring Classes, — Pro-labor 
promises on his accession — Legislation in favor of ameliorating 
the condition of the German working-classes — The Kaiser as 
mediator during a great coal strike — German anti-accident 
exhibition — Congress at Berlin convened by the Kaiser to 
devise means for the betterment of the laborer's lot — Imperial 
warnings against socialistic influences — His harsh description 
of the German socialists — Why the Kaiser lost interest in 
further pro-labor legislation Page 69 



V. The Kaiser and Alsace-Lorraine. — Promoting the 
spirit of loyalty in the annexed provinces — The beneficial in- 
fluence of his frequent visits there — Speeches to delegations 
— His chateau near Courcelles, and his neighborly relations 
with the people Page 87 



VI. The Kaiser and England. — His repeated visits to 
England — Until the close of 1895 his popularity in Eng- 
land unquestioned — The Kaiser and the British navy — 
His toast at the Lord Mayor's banquet — Hinting at Anglo- 
German naval alliance — Congo incident leads to first criti- 
cism by the English press — The Kaiser's Kriiger despatch 
and its consequences — His undiminished hospitality to Eng- 
lish guests — Continuance of English press hostility — Dynas- 
tic relations nevertheless consistently pleasant — Views of 
Cecil Rhodes and Sir Edwards Reed on the Kaiser — Hon- 
oring Lord Roberts — The Kaiser and the death of the 
Queen Page 96 



VII. The Kaiser and the United States. — How his views 
regarding this country underwent a complete change by the 

vi 



CONTENTS 

Spanish-American War — His reply to the late Ambassador 
Phelps — His telegram at the Columbus celebration — Con- 
doling with us on the loss of the Maine — The Coghlan inci- 
dent — Interchange of telegrams between him and Presidents 
McKinley and Roosevelt — Prince Henry's visit — Presentation 
of a statue of Frederick the Great — Some interesting remarks 
by the Kaiser touching recent political and commercial de- 
velopment here Page iii 



PROMOTING THE WELFARE OF THE EMPIRE 

Vni. The Kaiser and the Unity Idea. — He is the chief 
instrument of imperial consolidation — Constant iteration of 
the necessity of national unanimity — The empire's jubilee in 
1896 — ^The Kaiser's speeches and decrees on that occasion — 
His commemoration of the centenary of William I.'s birth — 
His oration at the dedicatory festivities of the Marien- 
burg , Page 127 



IX. The Kaiser and the Allied German Rulers. — 
Peculiar difficulties that stood in the way of winning their 
confidence — Relations with the Bavarian royal house — Those 
with Saxony, Wiirtemberg, Baden, Hesse, and minor dynasties 
— The Kaiser's skilful use of blood relationship with a num- 
ber of his allied "colleagues" — Repeated misunderstandings 
between him and the Bavarian house — Panegyric upon his 
uncle of Baden . Page 138 



X. The Kaiser and the German Army. — His exceedingly 
intimate relations with it — Rejuvenation process — His letter 
to Moltke — The Kaiser's attempts to uproot extravagance 
in the army — Partial reorganization and enlargement of the 
army — A telegram praising the Poles of Prussia — His speeches 
to the recruits — The Kaiser's characterization of the socialists 
— His decree to limit duelling in the army — His conception 
of a "good soldier" — Calling the army "the most important 
legacy left" by his grandfather — Reviving military traditions 
— His order prohibiting gaming and usury in the army — 
Beginning the century a year in advance — The peculiar class 

vii 



CONTENTS 

spirit bred in the army by the Kaiser — Revolutionary remi- 
niscences Page 152 



XI. The Kaiser and the German Navy. — Its creation 
mainly owing to him — His incessant solicitude for it — The 
secret of the Kaiser's thorough knowledge of naval affairs 
— Preparatory studies while still Prince William — Expert 
lectures to his officers — Outlining Germany's naval strategy 
in the event of war — The Kaiser's confessed ambition is to 
make his navy equally formidable with the army — His 
speeches to the naval recruits — His effective agitation for 
a big navy — The Kaiser enlightens the German Society of 
Naval Architects Page 179 



XII. Launchings op Vessels. — Stirring and patriotic 
speeches made by the Kaiser on these occasions — Pointing 
to the future when Germany is to be a great maritime power — 
His parallels drawn from history, Teutonic mythology, and 
folk-lore — "We bitterly need a powerful German navy" — 
Strong public censure for his opponents in the Reichstag — 
Pointed references to American advance — Emphasizing the 
idea of a world power Page 198 



XIII. The Kaiser and Higher Education. — His own 
experience in a German public school — A letter by him in 
which he drastically points out shortcomings of the prevailing 
system — School reforms planned by him at his accession — 
The cadet academies the first to be modelled by him — The 
great "School Reform Quest" in 1890 — Remarkable address 
delivered by him on that occasion — Radical changes ad- 
vocated — Healthful sport recommended — Teachers must in- 
fuse patriotism in their pupils' minds — How he thought 
socialism could be extirpated — Wants the youth of his coun- 
try to be taught how to become patriotic Germans, not 
Romans or Greeks — Insisting on the high value of technical 
training — Summing up his reform ideas . . . Page 206 



XIV. Relations to Art and Science. — The Kaiser's early 
artistic talent — One of his paintings at a Berlin expOvSition — 

viii 



CONTENTS 

His intercourse with Baron von Berger and with many other 
artists — How he decorated the orchestral leader Muck — His 
address to the members of the royal theatres — "Nurse the 
ancient traditions" — His conception of art and its mission — 
Donating the Schack collection to the city of Munich — Con- 
ferring the highest Prussian decoration on Menzel — His sharp 
condemnation of the German "Secession" — Private lectures 
to him by leading inventors — His speech at the bicentenary 
of the Prussian Academy of Sciences — Attending the Nurem- 
berg celebration of the Germanic Museum — Bavarian indig- 
nation at an imperial telegram ....... Page 224 



XV. Furthering Commerce and Navigation. — Dedicating 
the free port of Hamburg — Inspecting the ships of the North 
German Lloyd — Promising all possible aid to German ship- 
ping — The Kaiser explains his programme on board a Lloyd 
steamer — Lauding the progressive spirit of the Stettin citizens 
— His ideas about aquatic sports — The Dortmund-Ems Canal 
— His despatch after the great Lloyd fire in Hoboken — Con- 
gratulating the record-breaker Deutschland — Significant words 
in Danzig — Emphasizing the need of a large navy . Page 240 



XVI. The Kaiser and the Troubles in China. — His re- 
markable addresses to his parting troops — "I will not rest 
until the German flag flies above the walls of Peking" — A 
cablegram from the German merchants of Shanghai — "Spare 
nobody, make no prisoners" — "This may be the beginning 
of a war between Occident and Orient" — The Kaiser's con- 
tradictory estimates of Chinese character — Censuring Ad- 
miral Seymour's strategy — His pompous farewell to Field- 
marshal Waldersee — Reply to Prince Chun . . Page 256 



THE KAISER IN MORE INTIMATE CIRCLES 

XVII. The Kaiser's Ideal. — Among his ancestors it is the 
"Great Elector" of Brandenburg whom he specially admires 
and by whom he takes pattern — Drawing a parallel between 
that ruler and himself — Dedicating a monument at Kiel 

to him Page 269 

ix 



CONTENTS 

XVIII. The Kaiser and His Family. — The Kaiser's investi- 
ture as a knight of the order of St. John — The graceful com- 
pliment he paid his spouse in her native province — "May you 
ever rely upon me and my protection ' ' — His faith in the divine- 
right dogma — Eulogizing his father, the Crown -prince — Ex- 
tolling "kingship by God's grace " — Thanking the Reichstag for 
a monument to his father — Welcoming back his brother Henry 
— The Kaiser's idea of a " world-historical moment of the first 
magnitude " — His Latin telegram to Professor Mommsen — Ex- 
hibiting the imperial insignia to strengthen the loyalty of his sub- 
jects — His bombastic address to the Bonn students . Page 277 



XIX. The Kaiser as Margrave of Brandenburg. — Feels 
special pride in the title — Reasons for his intimate relations 
with the representatives of this province — Calls it the cradle 
and primal source of Hohenzollern power — His sensational 
and frank utterances before the Brandenburg Provincial 
Chambers — Terms Bismarck, Moltke, and Roon "mere tools 
of the august will" of William I. — Emphasizing the divine 
right of monarchs Page 294 



XX. The Kaiser in His University Relations. — As mem- 
ber of his "corps" in Bonn University — His connection with 
it as alter Herr — Replying to a toast at a commers a year be- 
fore his accession — As Kaiser he upholds the customary 
student duels — Initiating his eldest son in 1901 — Preaching 
the doctrine of nationalism to the students — His remarks 
about German enviousness — "We need personalities, men" 
— Emphasizing the need of ideals Page 307 



XXI. The Kaiser's Palestine Trip. — His speech to the 
German colony in Constantinople — Advising the German Prot- 
estants in Jerusalem to show "Practical Christianity" — Ex- 
pressing in Bethlehem his disappointment at prevailing con- 
ditions in the Holy Land — Disbelieves in proselytizing among 
Mohammedans — '' Exempla docent" — The Templar colony in 
Jerusalem — Assuring the Germans in Palestine of his protec- 
tion — Telling the Mohammedans that the German Kaiser 
will be at all times their friend — Reply to welcoming words 

on his return Page 313 

X 



CONTENTS 

XXIL The Kaiser as a Pulpit Orator. — His sermons on 
board the Hohenzollern usually delivered off-hand, without 
notes — Interesting changes in his religious tenets — As a 
pulpit orator he shows a striking resemblance to sensational 
preachers in this country Page 32^ 



BY WAY OF PREFACE 



If I were asked the question, What effect, on the 
whole, have the Kaiser's speeches had? my dehberate 
answer would be, On the whole, a good one. And in 
making such answer I am well aware that it runs 
counter to the preconceived opinion, both in this 
country and in England. But it is, I honestly be- 
lieve, nevertheless, the true and fair one. 

Let us investigate the subject, and, in investigating, 
rid our minds of all bias either way. In doing this, 
it is necessary to dwell on a few facts which are, per- 
haps, not always considered, or, if considered, not 
given due weight. 

For one thing, then, it must be borne in mind that 
the Kaiser, in most cases, is talking to his people, the 
Germans. And with all their high mental culture, 
their many sterling qualities, the Germans are, in 
political education, at least a whole century behind 
either England or the United States. The frank and 
well-instructed minds of Germany, those who have 
travelled or resided abroad long enough to form an 
intelligent opinion, admit this, irrespective of party 
ties. Now, in speaking to such a people — a people 
in its overwhelming majority composed of monarchists 
by conviction and tradition, steeped in the faith that 
good can come to them, if at all, only through and 
by their rulers, it must be manifest to every unprej- 
udiced person that modes of speech and methods of 

xiii 



BY WAY OF PREFACE 

style must be adopted to produce a given effect differ- 
ent from those that would produce a similar effect on 
a nation politically more advanced. 

That the Kaiser himself knows this full well is proven 
by the fact that when speaking to representatives of 
other nations — to Americans, Englishmen, even 
Frenchmen — he never makes use of the flamboyant, 
dictatorial, oracular mode of delivering himself which 
he, as a rule, employs in his public utterances to his 
own people. Witness, in striking proof of this, his 
speech, on July lo, 1891, at the Lord Mayor's banquet, 
in the Guildhall, London. It might be objected that 
representatives of these nations, above all, Americans 
and English, wouldn't "stand" such speeches. Very 
well, admit that — they wouldn't ; and the Kaiser knows 
it, and does not talk to them, or of them, in that ob- 
jectionable manner, which simply proves the conten- 
tion. He usually gauges his audience quite keenly and 
accurately, and he tells them that which he thinks 
will be good for them. That he, with all that, is quite 
honest in his "ruler -by -divine -right" belief, admits 
scarcely of doubt, and does not alter the above fact. 
To the vast majority of the Germans of to-day neither 
the subject-matter of his innumerable speeches nor 
their peculiar flavor is at all distasteful. Many of them 
touched chords in the German soul which would not 
have vibrated otherwise; not only touched them, but 
stirred them so electrically as to produce action and 
lasting effect on the various phases of national life. 

Turning now to the peculiar conditions in which the 
German Empire is placed, it will readily be seen that 
they account for much that seems strange to us in his 
talk. For the young empire is all the while contend- 
ing against a sea of troubles, both within and without. 
As to the troubles within, they are, just to mention 
the chief ones, three: The absolute necessity of a 

xiv 



BY WAY OP PREFACE 

firmer consolidation; the splitting up of political life 
into a score of factions, none of which is alone able to 
accomplish anything; and the socialist danger. And 
as regards the foreign situation, we see Germany sur- 
rounded, east and west and north, by powerful foes, 
forever on the watch, quick and willing to seize a really 
favorable opportunity for the dismemberment of the 
empire. We see her, besides, in the stress of a fierce 
and never-abating competition, political and commer- 
cial, with all the rest of the world. And yet the em- 
pire's soil is inferior in fertility and resources to that 
of her neighbors and most of her rivals. 

Now let us see what purposes the Kaiser has chiefly 
had in view when speaking publicly. In the main, 
these purposes have been the following: To preserve 
the peace of the world, enabling Germany to develop 
internally and to reap calmly the fruits of her efforts 
in industry, commerce, science, invention ; to strength- 
en the bonds of cohesion which hold the empire to- 
gether ; to foster and direct the expansion of Germany 
in political and commercial fields. .No one reading his 
speeches in their totality can help the deduction that 
his main programme as a ruler is bounded by the lim- 
its defined above. But it will repay the trouble to go 
a little more into details here. 

As to his efforts to preserve the peace of the world, 
his visits, at the outset of his reign and since, to Russia, 
England, Austria, Italy, and elsewhere, and his toasts 
and speeches, telegrams and letters, give abundant 
proof that he was sincere, untiring, and successful in 
these labors. In the light supplied by them there re- 
mains scarcely a doubt that it was principally owing 
to him that no war broke out between Russia and 
France on the one hand, and Germany, Austria, and 
Italy on the other, any time from 1888 to the death 
of Czar Alexander III., in the autumn of 1894. He 

XV 



BY WAY OF PREFACE 

made skilful use of the only effective means at hand to 
prevent this war — he convinced his adversaries that 
Germany wanted no war, and would do everything 
she honorably could to avoid it, and he convinced them 
equally of the fact that Germany would fight hard, 
and go into the fray prepared for a life-and-death 
struggle if forced into it. The latter conviction he 
contrived to convey by repeated and enormous en- 
largements of the German army during that period, 
and by knitting tighter the Triple AlHance. The 
evidence is as irresistible in regard to the other two 
tasks he had set himself. No close observer of Ger- 
man internal affairs will deny that the Kaiser has 
succeeded to an unprecedented degree in strengthen- 
ing and multiplying the cohesive forces that bind the 
young empire together. He has wiped out the strife 
between the Catholic Church and the Protestant state 
in Germany, known under the name of Culturkampf, 
and which he took over as an inheritance from Bis- 
marck. He has made loyal disaffected Alsace-Lor- 
raine. He has made the relations between Emperor 
and the co-ordinated German sovereigns much more 
intimate and pleasant. He has vastly improved and 
doubled the size of the army. He has created the 
formidable German navy. 

As to Germany's expansion, political and com- 
mercial, the Kaiser is practically responsible for it. 
That the world admits. And the same remark ap- 
plies to Germany's internal advance in all material 
things — industry, trade, shipping, applied science, gen- 
eral prosperity. It is no mere coincidence that the 
last decade of the Kaiser's reign has seen Germany 
bound forward on the path of expansion at a mar- 
vellous rate. It is largely due to his unbending en- 
ergies in that direction. 

Thus, then, the Kaiser's hundreds of speeches 

xvi 



BY WAY OF PREFACE 

subserving these chief purposes of his, have unques- 
tionably produced vast good, not to his country and 
people alone, but to the world at large, inasmuch as 
they have served to render war impossible, and in that 
manner have contributed immensely to the welfare 
of mankind as a whole. 

But there is an entire category of his speeches 
which has achieved not good, but evil. In it belong 
his many public utterances against political liberalism, 
for whose dwindling away in Germany he is mainly 
responsible ; his amazingly violent diatribes and insults 
hurled against the sociaHsts of Germany, comprising, 
it must be remembered, one -fourth or more of the 
entire population; those against the freedom of the 
press and against the new literature and art of Ger- 
many ; and also those many wild and irrational sayings 
and orders to his officers, soldiers, and recruits. Of 

■A 

the latter, "no doubt, some at least were momentary 
ebullitions, not to be taken seriously. One may arrive 
at that conclusion because they have been excluded, 
at the implied behest of the Kaiser himself, from 
recent compilations. But enough of them remain to 
make the calm observer stand aghast. 

August Bebel, the socialist leader, recently delivered 
one of his characteristic speeches in the Reichstag. 
It was a scathing and almost brutally frank reply 
to the Kaiser's innumerable attacks on his party. 
He cited some of the most virulent anti - socialist 
remarks of the Kaiser, and stated that it was but 
human if the socialists, in retaliation, harbored a feel- 
ing of hatred for the head of the nation. Bebel is the 
most eloquent and impressive orator in the Reichs- 
tag, and the most conspicuous mouth -piece of his 
party, by far the most numerous at the polls, though 
(owing to the unreformed system of districting the 
constituencies) by no means in the national parliament. 

xvii 



BY WAY OF PREFACE 

He is a man who has himself tasted in jail the bitter- 
ness of imperial anger, having been several times con- 
demned by subservient and prejudiced courts for Vese 
majeste and treasonable talk. It is no wonder that 
the socialist party hates the Kaiser intensely, and 
Bebel's strictures — that the Kaiser constantly over- 
steps the limits of a constitutional ruler, and that, 
nevertheless, he has contrived to close up for his ad- 
versaries every avenue of stating publicly their case 
fairly and fully — were perfectly just. He was quite 
right when he said : 

" A prince is born a prince. Is it his fault? By chance he 
has become a ruler, and if a prince is humane, is not personally 
vindictive towards us, we shall never personally oppose him. 
Monarchy is an institution, not a question of persons. It has 
grown on a historical foundation. And, therefore, we are the 
strongest opponents of the anarchists, who preach the assas- 
sination of rulers. ..." 

Bebel, I say, is quite right in what he claims. Any- 
body who has been on the inside of German affairs 
knows that, in sober truth, the socialists there — who 
must not be confounded in their teachings with so- 
cialists elsewhere — have been and are the most power- 
ful check on the growth of anarchism, and have bene- 
fited the laboring classes in the empire as all other 
factors together have not. The Kaiser's dread of 
them is unreasoning in his speeches and actions. 

And while the Kaiser's speeches have had a most 
unwholesome effect on German literature and art, 
they have been still more baneful as to press condi- 
tions in the empire. It is an undeniable fact that the 
Kaiser has throttled freedom of opinion and its ex- 
pression there, and this to a degree without a parallel. 
The press in Germany is muzzled and powerless. The 
writer himself (if he may be pardoned for mentioning 
the fact) illustrates this, for he was expelled from Berlin 

xviii 



BY WAY OF PREFACE 

for writing, as an American correspondent, the truth 
about the Emperor — expelled, broken in health, ruined 
financially. I suppose it would be but "human" in 
Bebel's sense if I, when opportunity offered, should 
confound my private wrongs with the public ones 
wrought by the Kaiser's illiberal policy towards the 
press. But that would not be fair to the reader nor to 
the Kaiser. It is, however, strictly within the truth 
to say that his practically absolute power has given 
the Kaiser a notion that he is infallible, and that to 
hold, or, above all, express, opinions at variance with 
his own is tantamount to high treason, tantamount to 
injuring the empire's interests. That, again, is quite 
"human." I do not doubt for a moment the sincer- 
ity of his convictions and notions. In fact, his most 
inveterate foes within the empire, the socialists, admit 
that much themselves. But that does not alter the 
fact that Bebel's charge is true — the Kaiser goes in his 
speeches and in his whole public activity away beyond 
constitutional limits — limits which he solemnly pledged 
himself to adhere to on ascending the throne. How- 
ever, the point at issue in this article scarcely concerns 
itself with that question, interesting as it is. 

Striking a general balance, after carefully weighing 
the evidence on either side, I am constrained to say 
that I hold the influence of the Kaiser's speeches, on 
the whole, to be a good one. Or perhaps it would con- 
vey my meaning more clearly to say that the good 
effects outweigh the evil ones. 

The Kaiser fills, no doubt, an exceptional position 
in the world's eye. He is a bundle of contradictions. 
His double lineage — HohenzoUern and Guelph — ac- 
counts for that. His complex nature is nowhere 
mirrored more dazzlingly and yet impartially than in 
his very speeches. The words from his own mouth 
convict and then again acquit him. As the most 

xix 



BY WAY OF PREFACE 

picturesque personage on the public stage, he must 
always remain interesting. As a forceful, masterful 
individuality he impresses himself on the general im- 
agination. But a good deal of what is strange in his 
speeches is due not so much to him as to the anom- 
alous circumstances surrounding him as a ruler. 

Wolf von Schierbrand. 



INTRODUCTORY 



Fraught with grave importance for Germany and 
her imperial house, the year 1888 set in porten- 
tously. For over a twelvemonth the political hori- 
zon had been pregnant with sombre, threatening 
clouds. 

Apparently Germany was on the eve of a war which 
she would have to wage simultaneously against two 
mighty foes — Russia and France. Czar Alexander III. 
was completely under the domination of the Panslav- 
ists, and the latter again under the influence of the 
French Nationalists and Boulangists, who were urging 
on war with Germany. 

Forged documents had been played into the hands 
of the Czar, which necessarily convinced him that the 
old friendship existing between Russia and Germany 
since the Napoleonic era had been shamefully betrayed 
on the German side. 

In the very nick of time, Bismarck succeeded in con- 
vincing Alexander III. of the spurious character of 
these fabricated documents, and in furnishing convinc- 
ing proof of the forgery. But the suspicious mood of 
Alexander III. towards Germany was not thereby ma- 
terially changed. Russia energetically prepared for 
war, and concentrated such enormous masses of troops 
along the German and Austrian frontiers that it was 
only due to the former very friendly relations with 
Russia, and to the correct relations obtaining since 

xxi 



INTRODUCTORY 

1878, that the German government refrained from put- 
ting Russia squarely before an ultimatum. 

In February, 1888, mutual relations had become de- 
cidedly more strained. The Deutsche Reichsanzeiger^ 
had published, on the last day of 1887, these spurious 
documents, and had spoken in very good temper about 
the ''misunderstanding" on the part of Russia. The 
desired effect in Russia, however, was not apparent. 
The tone of the Russian and French papers became 
increasingly threatening. On February 3d, the en- 
tire political world was shaken by the publication of 
the German-Austrian Alliance stipulations. True, the 
wording of this treaty showed conclusively that its 
purposes were wholly defensive, and that neither Ger- 
many nor Austria intended to attack another coun- 
try. But the intriguers in France and Russia made, 
nevertheless, use of this publication to begin renewed 
press assaults against Germany. 

In the German Imperial Parliament — the Reichstag 
— they were debating upon the increase of the actual 
strength of the German army to seven hundred thou- 
sand men, and upon the loan made necessary by such 
a huge enlargement of the army. On February 6th, 
Bismarck made a speech in the Reichstag. In it he 
admitted that the pleasant relations with Russia had 
of late greatly suffered. But he still continued to give 
Russia an opportunity of retrieving, and he aimed at 
presenting things in such a light as if there was but 
a momentary misunderstanding, and as if these con- 
centrations of Russian troops on the eastern frontiers 
of Germany were meant for something else than war 
against Germany. 

For all that, Bismarck on this occasion made the 
formal declaration, in behalf of the entire German 



* The Deutsche Reichsanzeiger 
is the chief official organ of the 

xxii 



imperial and of the Prussian 
governments . — E d . 



INTRODUCTORY 

people, that the latter would not scruple to make 
war against two enemies in defence of Germany's 
sacred rights. He emphasized, however, that Ger- 
many was not planning a war of aggression, but would 
prefer to have her foes attack her first, because then 
"the whole of Germany, from the Memel to the Lake 
of Constance, would flare up like a powder magazine, 
the whole country thick with bayonets. No enemy 
will dare face the furor teutonicus which would develop 
in case of aggression," the Iron Chancellor said. 

The concluding words of this unforgotten speech 
reverberated like thunderclaps throughout the Ger- 
man Empire: "We can easily be won by affection 
and good-will, perhaps too easily, but never by threats. 
We Germans fear God, but nothing else in the world." 

The weight of these words was increased by the fact 
that the Reichstag referred the army increase and loan 
bills, without debate, to the budget committee, and later 
on adopted, on a second reading, the army bill en bloc. 

The pacific tone of Bismarck's speech created an 
excellent impression throughout the world; but the 
energy and confidence which likewise pervaded it in- 
duced the ranters in France and Russia to curb their 
passions somewhat. 

Prince William, who scarcely imagined at that time 
that he was so soon to become emperor and the leader 
of Germany's hosts, felt it, nevertheless, his duty to 
controvert, two days after Bismarck's speech, rumors 
which had taken him for their object. Prince William 
was at this juncture generally beHeved to be not only 
an enthusiastic soldier, but also to be a hotspur. It 
was supposed that he was ready to risk all the Ger- 
man Empire had won during the preceding decades for 
a "merry war" of his own. On February 8th, there- 
fore, Prince William made reply to some remarks by 
Oberprasident von Achenbach, at the banquet of the 

xxiii 



INTRODUCTORY 

Provincial Diet of the province of Brandenburg, in 
a speech whose concluding sentences were as follows : 

" . . . In my rides through the Mark Brandenburg, 
on the occasion of the manoeuvres, seeing the waving 
fields and the manifold evidences of industrial prog- 
ress, I have convinced myself quite sufficiently where- 
in lies the true foimdation of a people's well-being and 
of fruitful toil. I know well that the great public, 
and more especially in foreign countries, imputes to 
me war thoughts, believes me eager for glory and for 
the fray. God preserve me from such criminal lean- 
ings! I indignantly deny all such accusations! But, 
gentlemen, I am a soldier, and all Brandenburgers are 
soldiers, I know. ..." 

Four weeks later Emperor William I. died. The 
moribund Crown-prince, Frederick William, ascended 
the throne. But on June 15th, the imperial standard 
on Castle Friedrichskron, near Potsdam, was lowered 
once more. Kaiser Friedrich III. was dead ; the patient 
sufferer had breathed his last. 

When Kaiser Wilhelm II. had ascended the throne 
of the Prussian kings, and had thereby become the 
chief of the German Empire, he issued the following 
three addresses, which probably more or less accurately 
reflect the spirit in which he took over the serious 
duties that devolved on him: 

*' To MY People 
''God's decree has again visited us with bitterest 
sorrow. Hardly had the grave closed over the mor- 
tal remains of my unforgettable grandfather, than my 
dearly beloved father's majesty has been summoned 
from this earth to eternal peace. The heroic energy 
growing out of Christian fortitude, with which he knew 

xxiv 



INTRODUCTORY 

how to fulfil his royal duties despite his sufferings 
seemed to give room for the hope that he would be pre' 
served to the fatherland for a longer time. God willed 
otherwise. Only a few months were given to the 
royal sufferer, whose heart beat for everything great 
and beautiful, wherein to manifest upon the throne 
all those noble qualities of head and heart which en 
deared him to the people. The virtues which glorified 
him, the victories which he once won on the battle-field 
will be gratefully remembered as long as German 
hearts beat, and imperishable renown will keep aHve 
his knightly figure in the history of the fatherland. 

"Summoned to the throne of my fathers, I have 
taken up the reins of government in looking for aid 
to the King of all kings, and I have sworn to God 
to follow the example of my fathers and to be to my 
people a just and mild ruler, to nurture piety and the 
fear of God, to cherish peace, to promote the country's 
welfare, to be a helper to the poor and oppressed, and 
a faithful guardian to justice. 

" In praying God to give me strength to fulfil these 
royal duties, imposed upon me by His will, I find sup- 
port in the consciousness that my confidence in the 
Prussian people, as its history reflects, will be justified. 
In good and evil days Prussia's people has stood 
faithfully by its king. Upon this loyalty, whose ties 
proved indissoluble in the case of my forefathers in 
every great trouble and danger, I count also, knowing 
that the sentiment is reciprocated by me, the faithful 
ruler of a faithful people, both strong in devotion to 
the common fatherland. From this consciousness of 
the mutual affection binding me to my people, I gather 
the confidence that God will lend me strength and 
wisdom to fill my royal office to the welfare of the 
fatherland. Wilhelm. 

" Potsdam, June i8, i888r 

XXV 



INTRODUCTORY 



*' To THE Army 



"Scarcely has the army discarded the external 
signs of mourning for Emperor and King William L, 
my highly cherished grandfather, who will continue to 
live in your hearts forever, than another heavy blow 
falls by the death of my dear, my cherished father, the 
Emperor and King Frederick III., majesty. 

''Truly, these are days of mourning in which God's 
hand places me at the head of the army, and it is, 
indeed, from a troubled, deeply stirred heart that I 
address my first words to my army. 

"The confidence, however, with which I take my 
stand where God's will places me is unalterably stead- 
fast, for I know what sentiments of honor and duty 
my glorious ancestors have implanted in the army, 
and I know in what great measure this sentiment has 
at all times proved trustworthy. 

"In the army the strong, unquestioning allegiance 
to the commander-in-chief (KriegsherrnY is the heir- 
loom descending from father to son, from generation to 
generation, and in this wise I point you to my grand- 
father, forever before your eyes, the picture of a glo- 
rious and venerable battle leader, such as no finer 
and more heart-stirring may be conceived ; to my dear 
father, who, as crown-prince, won a high place of honor 
in the annals of the army; and to a long line of re- 
nowned ancestors, whose names shine bright in his- 
tory and whose hearts glowed warm for the army. 

"Thus we belong together, I and the army; thus 
we are born for each other, and thus we will act to- 
gether, no matter whether God wills peace or storm. 

"You will now swear to me the oath of allegiance 



' The word Kriegsherr is a Ger- 
man military title signifying, 
not " war lord," as has frequent- 

xxvi 



ly been erroneously stated, but 
means simply commander - in- 
chief. — Ed. 



INTRODUCTORY 

and obedience, and I solemnly promise always to re- 
member that the eyes of my ancestors are looking 
down upon me from the other world, and that I shall 
have to render account some day of the glory and the 
honor of the army. Wilhelm. 

** Castle Friedrichskron, June 15, 1888.** 

*' To THE Navy 

''With sorrow-laden heart I inform the navy that 
my beloved father, his Majesty the German Emperor 
and King of Prussia, Frederick III., died peacefully 
in the Lord this forenoon at 11.05 o'clock, and that 
I, taking the place appointed for me by God's will, 
have assumed the government of the lands devolving 
upon me, and hence, also, the chief command of the 
navy. 

''It is in very truth a time heavy with grief when I 
for the first time address the navy. 

"It is but recently that you discontinued wearing 
the sombre signs of mourning for my dear, never-to-be- 
forgotten grandfather, the Emperor William I., who 
but last year, during his visit to Kiel, expressed his 
lively satisfaction and admiration at the development 
of the navy during his glorious reign, and to-day the 
flags sink again for my well-beloved father, w^ho felt 
so much joy and took so keen an interest in the growth 
and progress of the navy. 

" The time of stern and true faithfulness strengthens 
and steadies, however, the hearts of men, and thus 
we will look confidently into the future, bearing the 
pictures of my grandfather and of my father mirrored 
in our hearts. The navy knows that it has not only 
filled me with great joy to belong to it by an external 
tie, but that since my earliest youth, in entire con- 
sonance with my dear brother. Prince Henry of Prus- 
sia, a deep and lively interest draws me there. 

xxvii 



INTRODUCTORY 

'' I have learned to know the high sense of honor and 
of duty nobly done which lives in the navy. I know 
that every one is ready to sacrifice his life, no matter 
where, for the honor of the German flag. 

''And thus it is that in this sad hour I may say, 
with full confidence, that we shall stand together, fast 
and true, in good and in evil days, in sunshine and 
in storm, always remembering the glory of the Ger- 
man fatherland and always ready to spill our heart's 
blood for the honor of the German flag. 

" In such an endeavor God's blessing will be with us. 

WiLHELM. 

" Castle Friedrichskron, June 15, 1888,'' 

The young Kaiser's throne speech at the convening 
of the Reichstag, June 25, 1888, was also very signif- 
icant. In it occur the following passages : 

"... I have called you together, honored sirs, to 
tell the German nation that I am resolved to walk the 
same paths as king and as emperor on which my dear 
grandfather of blessed memory won for himself the 
confidence of his federated allies, the affection of the 
German people, and the good-will of foreign nations. 
Whether I shall similarly succeed rests with God, but 
I shall strive to attain all this by hard work." 

About the imperial constitution he said: 

*' . . . The foremost one of these laws is the im- 
perial constitution. To protect and guarantee it in 
all those rights which it confers upon the two legisla- 
tive bodies of the nation and upon every German, 
but also those which it confers upon the Kaiser and 
upon each allied state and its ruler, belongs to the 
chief prerogatives and duties of the Kaiser. 

" . . . In like manner I deem it requisite to main- 

xxviii 



INTRODUCTORY 

tain our state and social development in the paths of 
legality, and firmly to oppose all endeavors whose pur- 
pose and effect would be to undermine the order and 
fabric of the state. 

'' As regards our foreign policy, I am resolved to keep 
peace with every one, so far as in me lies. My affec- 
tion for the German army and my attitude towards it 
will never lead me into the temptation to shorten the 
blessings of peace for our country, so long as war 
should not be forced upon us by an attack upon the 
empire or its allies. Our army is to secure us peace, 
and, if peace should be broken despite all, our army 
will, I trust, be strong enough to compel the re-estab- 
lishment of peace. With God's help it will be able to 
do so, now that its effective status has been increased 
by the recently passed army law, adopted by you in 
such a spirit of unanimity. To employ, however, this 
strength in wars of aggression is far from my desires. 
Germany is not in need of either new warlike laurels 
nor of new conquests, now that she has fought for 
and obtained the right to exist as a united and inde- 
pendent nation. . . . 

"For the conscientious cultivation of peace I shall 
gladly devote my services to the fatherland, as likewise 
to the incessant care for our army, and I rejoice in the 
traditional relations to foreign powers by which my 
efforts in the aforementioned line will be promoted. 

''Trusting in God and in the preparedness of our 
people, I have confidence that for a long time to come 
we shall be able to consolidate and to preserve by the 
arts of peace that which, under the leadership of my 
two predecessors on the throne, now resting in God, 
has been secured in war." 

Two days later, on June 27, 1888, the young mon- 
arch delivered another speech from the throne at the 

xxix 



INTRODUCTORY 

opening of the Prussian Diet. The same spirit per- 
vaded it. 

After paying a glowing tribute to his grandfather and 
father, and exacting from the delegates of both houses 
of the Diet the oath of allegiance, the Kaiser said : 

"I solemnly pledge myself to maintain in its in- 
tegrity the constitution of the kingdom, and to reign 
in consonance with it and the laws, so help me God ! 

'' Honored Sirs! Emperor William has created dur- 
ing his glorious reign, full of great deeds in war and 
peace, the Prussia of to-day, and has realized the striv- 
ings of our people for national unity. 

'* My father, now resting in God, with the same loy- 
alty which inspires me towards him, adopted after his 
accession in his public manifestations, representing his 
political testament, the policy and the achievements 
of my grandfather of blessed memory. I also am re- 
solved to tread the same paths after them, both as re- 
gards Prussia and the empire. As did King William 
I., so will I, abiding by my solemn pledge, honor and 
protect the laws and the prerogatives of the repre- 
sentatives of the nation, and I will preserve and exert 
with the same scrupulous regard the constitutional 
rights of the crown, so that I may, at some future time, 
hand them over undiminished to my successor on the 
throne. Nothing is further from my mind than to 
risk the confidence of the people in the continuity of our 
lawful conditions by efforts to enlarge the rights of 
the crown. That measure of rights and prerogatives 
lawfully accruing to me, so long as it is not questioned, 
suffices to insure for the life of the state that degree of 
monarchic influence which Prussia, from her historic 
development, her composition to-day, her position in 
the empire, and the sentiments and customs of her 
people, actually requires. I am of opinion that our 

XXX 



INTRODUCTORY 

constitution contains a just and reasonable apportion- 
ment of the different factors of power in the hfe of the 
state, and it is because of this, and not only because 
of my pledge, that I mean to protect and maintain it. 
Following the example of my august ancestors, I shall 
at all times deem it my duty to accord to every form 
of religious belief in my country my royal protection 
in the exercise of its tenets. 

"With particular satisfaction I have noticed that 
the more recent religio-political legislation has brought 
it about that the relations between the state and the 
Catholic Church and its supreme head have been or- 
dered in a mutually satisfying manner. I shall en- 
deavor to preserve Church harmony in the land. 

"Honored Sirs! I have assumed the duties of my 
royal office at a trying period, but I approach the task 
intrusted to me by God's will with the confidence of a 
sense of duty, and in doing so the word of the Great 
Frederick is in my mind, that in Prussia "the king 
is the first servant of the state." 

During the short reign of Emperor Frederick, France 
and Russia had remained, so to speak, in a mood of 
truce. But now, after the accession of the youthful 
ruler, who, according to their notions, had no serious 
backing either in German party life or on the part 
of the ruling sovereigns of the empire, the time seemed 
to have come to resume once more the covered or the 
open attacks upon Germany. It was now incumbent 
upon Emperor William 11. to demonstrate perad vent- 
ure to the whole world his love of peace. Besides, 
it became necessary for him to undertake, wherever 
that was practicable, personal steps to remove misun- 
derstandings and to further the preservation of peace. 

xxxi 



THE KAISER FOR PEACE AND 
RECONCILIATION 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

The Kaiser's visits to Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, under- 
taken, after ascending the throne, for purposes of concilia- 
tion and friendship — Emphatic rejection of French hints to 
purchase permanent peace by restoring Alsace-Lorraine — 
Significant speeches during his visit to England — Relations 
with his Austrian and Italian allies — ^Toasting the Czar — The 
Kaiser and the cession of Heligoland — Receiving the Austrian 
and Italian monarchs in Berlin — The death of Alexander III. 
— Peace manifestations at the opening of the Baltic Canal. 

The impressive demonstration in favor of peace 
which the Emperor William II. inaugurated immedi- 
ately after his accession, by means of a series of trips 
to foreign parts, was emphasized by the fact that his 
first visit was paid to the Czar of Russia. He did not 
first see the German sovereigns, nor the august chiefs 
of the Dreibund powers, but the Kaiser went, above 
all, to the most dangerous foe of Germany — to Czar 
Alexander III. — in order to give to that potentate his 
personal assurances that the young Kaiser loved peace 
above everything. 

The manner of his carrying out this important task 
differed in several essential respects from similar pre- 
vious visits made by German monarchs. The differ- 
ences in external circumstances were great. The 
Kaiser undertook the journey by sea. On July 14th, 

3 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

less than a month after his father's death, he started 
from Kiel on board his yacht, the Hohenzollern, for 
St. Petersburg, accompanied by Prince Henry, his 
brother; Prince Herbert Bismarck, then Secretary of 
Foreign Affairs; General von Hahnke, then chief of 
his military cabinet, and a large and brilliant suite. 

On the 19th the two monarchs met on the high 
sea, some distance from Kronstadt,^ and exchanged 
civilities. Later in the day Kaiser William was also 
received, at Peterhof,^ by the Empress of Russia. 
This was followed by a family dinner, and by a ban- 
quet given officially in the presence of the high dig- 
nitaries. The Kaiser's visit lasted until July 24th, 
and before the Kaiser's departure from Kronstadt 
there was another luncheon on board the Hohen- 
zollern, at which Alexander HI. and his consort par- 
ticipated. 

Alexander HL was of a chivalrous nature. The 
manner in which William H. seized this early oppor- 
tunity to plead for the maintenance of peace had 
impressed the Czar vividly and had created great 
sympathy for this young monarch. There seems no 
doubt that this initial step made by William 11. for 
the sake of better relations between the two nations 
was of eminent importance, and that it was largely 
instrumental in dissipating, at least later on, the 
threatening clouds in the political heavens. The 
wording of the toasts proposed by both rulers on the 
occasion of this family dinner, on July 19th, has never 
been published. The Russian press by no means 
ceased in its hostile attacks on Germany, although 
moderating them somewhat. Russian papers at- 
tempted to treat the Kaiser's visit ironically, and some 



^ Kronstadt, the harbor of St. 
Petersburg, on the Baltic. 

^ Peterhof, one of the favorite 



residences of Alexander III., in 
the environs of St. Petersburg. 
—Ed. 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

of their interpretations were so offensive that the 
Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung^ repHed by this dec- 
laration : 

"True, the initiative to the Kaiser's visit in St. Petersburg 
came, we repeat it, from Berlin, but to argue therefrom that 
the need of a rapprochement between the two countries was 
felt more strongly on the part of the German government 
than was the case in St. Petersburg is an outflow of Asiatic 
arrogance and Asiatic ignorance." 

The Kaiser at least felt that he had reason to be 
satisfied with the results of his visits in Krasnoye 
Sseloe^ and Peterhof. 

On his return trip from Kronstadt the Kaiser visited 
the King of Sweden and Norway in Stockholm, and 
won by his personal magnetism not alone the sym- 
pathies of Oscar II. but those of his capital as well. 
On July 26th, the Kaiser thus replied at the royal 
castle in Stockholm to the welcoming words of the 
Swedish ruler: 

''The traditions binding the Swedish and the Ger- 
man people together, and my dynasty with the 
Swedish royal house, and more especially the tradi- 
tions which united my grandfather and my father 
with your Majesty, will, I trust, live on. I see in the 
splendid reception accorded me in this beautiful land 
a strong proof of the sympathies uniting the Germanic 
with the Scandinavian nations."^ 

Indeed, the Kaiser had won the admiration of the 
Swedish people. If war should, after all, break out. 



^ Norddeutsche Allgemeine Zei- 
tung, a Berlin newspaper largely 
used by the German government 
for official and semi-official ut- 
terances. 



2 Krasnoye Sseloe, a rural es- 
tate belonging to the Czar. 

^ There are bonds of relation- 
ship between the Berlin and the 
Stockholm courts. — Ed. 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

the friendship — even the mere neutrality — of Sweden 
was at that moment of great importance. 

From Stockholm Kaiser William II. went straight 
into the lion's den. He visited Copenhagen. The 
Danish court had been, since 1864, the centre where 
alT sorts of intrigues were spun against Germany, and 
whence they radiated. Copenhagen influences had in- 
duced the Czar (a son-in-law of the King of Denmark) 
to identify himself with the Panslavist movement, and 
finally to reason himself into a bitter state of feeling 
against Germany. The amiable and frank demeanor 
of William II. conciliated, too, the members of the 
Danish royal family. The reception accorded the 
Kaiser in Copenhagen was a very cordial one. At the 
dinner in Castle Amalienborg, on July 31st, the Kaiser 
answered the toast proposed by King Christian IX. 
in this way: 

*' I return respectful thanks to your Majesty for the 
kind toast, and I express the hope that I may be 
permitted in the future to pay another similarly 
friendly visit here." 

In France, it seems, this love of peace, as evinced by 
the young German Emperor, had been misunderstood. 
It was being interpreted there as a confession of weak- 
ness — aye, even of fear, and the French press hastened 
to inform the world that the new German ruler could 
easily purchase a lasting peace by voluntarily return- 
ing to France the two lost provinces of Alsace and 
Lorraine. These French interpretations had to be 
effectually combated in order to prevent there, as well 
as elsewhere, misconstructions of the motives impelling 
William II. in his further attempts to preserve the 
peace in Europe. 

In Frankfort-on-Oder, the i6th of August was kept 

6 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

as a memorial day of the battle of Mars-la-Tour, and 
a monument to Prince Frederick Charles (''the Red 
Prince"), which had been erected by the 3d Army 
Corps, was unveiled on that day. The Kaiser was 
present and made a memorial speech, towards the 
close of which he said: 

''There are some who do not scruple to assert that 
if my father had lived he would have restored that 
which he and my uncle, of blessed memory, Prince 
Frederick Charles, had won by the sword. We all 
have known him too well to acquiesce supinely in 
an assertion which amounts to an affront offered his 
memory. He had the same conviction we have — 
namely, that not an iota of the achievements of that 
great period is to be relinquished. I believe that not 
only the 3d Army Corps, but the entire army, knows 
there can be but one voice on that score, and that 
we should prefer rather to leave our eighteen army 
corps and our forty -two millions of people on the 
battle - field than to cede a single stone of that 
which my father and Prince Frederick Charles have 
won for us." 

To nurture the good relations with Sweden, the 
Kaiser seized upon the opportunity furnished by the 
birth of his fifth son to ask the King of Sweden to 
become godfather to the new-born prince. On August 
31st, the baptismal rites were celebrated in Berlin, the 
King of Sweden being present, and both the German 
and the Swedish press expressed satisfaction at this 
new proof of the pleasant relations existing between 
the two countries. 

After the Kaiser had paid a visit in Dresden to King 
Albert, whose very friendly feelings for him he wished 
to cultivate, he made a tour of visits to Stuttgart, 

7 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

Munich, Vienna, and Rome. More especially his visits 
to the Vienna court and to the Quirinal served their 
turn well to demonstrate to the world the Kaiser's 
love of peace, but they had another and very appre- 
ciable effect in enthusing the nations belonging to the 
Triple Alliance. 

With great satisfaction, the Kaiser was able to 
declare, at the conclusion of these journeys, that ac- 
cording to his sincere conviction the continuance of 
peace had been secured for a long time to come. 
Notwithstanding this, however, the political situation 
did not entirely improve during 1889. Doubtless, 
though, the efforts of the German Emperor had at 
least induced his adversaries to assume a waiting at- 
titude and not to hurry on the moment of actual hostili- 
ties by violent means. The Czar of Russia had been 
seriously disturbed by the publication of the terms of 
the German - Austrian agreement, and had somehow 
conceived the idea that the point of this treaty was 
turned against Russia. His designs upon the Balkan 
peninsula, where he wished to consolidate Russian 
supremacy, were gravely interfered with by this al- 
liance. It could, of course, be foreseen that Austria- 
Hungary, because of the dangers inherent in the 
proximity of so powerful a neighbor, would not tolerate 
a further extension of Russian influence upon the 
Balkan lands. And now Austria-Hungary no longer 
stood alone. At the critical moment she knew that 
she could rely upon Germany. 

The German Emperor continued his endeavors in 
behalf of peace, and in pursuance of that object he next 
undertook a trip to England. Britons at that time 
were prejudiced in his favor as being the grandson of 
their beloved Queen. But he did not visit her solely 
as a relative. That fact was made patent by the 
manner in which the journey was carried out. He 

8 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

was accompanied by a German squadron of naval 
vessels. The excellent relations between the two 
courts found expression in mutual courtesies. Kaiser 
William was made an honorary admiral of the British 
navy. He, on his part, created Queen Victoria honor- 
ary chief of the ist Dragoons of the Guards, and the 
Duke of Cambridge he appointed chief of the 28th 
Regiment of the Line. The Kaiser stayed in Eng- 
land from the ist until the 7th of August. All the 
honors which he showered upon his grandmother, the 
Queen, were looked upon by the English people as 
special attentions shown to the whole country. In 
England, too, it made a very good impression that 
the Kaiser had at once transmitted an order to Berlin 
to send a deputation of the ist Dragoons of the Guards 
to England in order to wait upon their new royal 
chief. The presentation ceremony took place in Os- 
borne, on August 5 th, and the Kaiser said on this oc- 
casion : 

*' I beg to be permitted to express to your Majesty 
my deep-felt thanks at the fact that your Majesty has 
been gracious enough to accept the position as chief 
of the Royal Prussian ist Dragoons of the Guards. 
My army feels proud to be able to count henceforth 
in its ranks the sovereign commander of the greatest 
naval power in the world. Above all, however, the 
hearts of the officers and men of your Majesty's own 
regiment beat higher because of the fact that it now 
enjoys the honor of being called 'Queen of England.' 
I have chosen this particular regiment for the purpose 
partly for the reason that its record shows it to have 
excelled in discipline during times of peace and in 
heroic conduct during war. Notably was this the 
case during the last campaign, at Mars-la-Tour, where 
it earned deserved laurels. But again it is the only 

9 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

cavalry regiment in the Prussian army in which my 
late father received his education as a cavalryman. 

*'I do not doubt for a moment that the officers 
and men of the ist Dragoons of the Guards, Queen 
of England, conscious of the high distinction con- 
ferred, will zealously strive always to remain worthy 
of it." 

On the same day the Kaiser assisted at a regatta held 
in Sundown Bay, and to the toast proposed in his 
honor by the Prince of Wales he replied: 

"The great honor which the Queen has conferred 
upon me by appointing me admiral of the English 
fleet I value very highly. It gave me great pleasure 
to witness this naval review and to be able to see and 
examine closely a navy which I hold the finest in the 
world. Germany possesses an army which appears 
adequate for her needs, and when the British nation 
owns a fleet commensurate to their requirements 
Europe in general will look upon this fact as a most 
potent factor in the preservation of peace." 

On the day before his departure the Kaiser witnessed, 
at Aldershot, the manoeuvres of twenty-nine thousand 
British troops. At the luncheon in camp the Duke of 
Cambridge toasted the Kaiser, whereupon the latter 
said in reply : 

'* It was peculiarly gratifying to me to appoint the 
Duke of Cambridge, in his capacity of commander- 
in-chief of the English army, chief of my 28th Regiment 
of the Line, because it was this regiment which had, 
in past years, the Duke of Wellington, our good com- 
rade at Waterloo, for its chief. 

"My grandfather had maintained friendship with 

10 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

England and the English, a friendship baptized in 
blood, until the end of his days. 

"... The British troops have inspired me with 
the greatest admiration. If ever the possibility of 
volunteer service should be doubted, I shall be in a 
condition to testify as to their excellence. 

*' At Malplaquet and Waterloo, Prussian and British 
blood has been spilled in a common cause. ..." 

And not only at the British royal court had the 
Kaiser won sympathy for himself, but also among the 
British people, not easily swayed in their sentiments. 
His personal appearance and demeanor had gained 
him the good-will of the English. 

Shortly after his return to his capital, the Kaiser 
received the visit of the Emperor Francis Joseph of 
Austria, who was accorded a jubilant reception by 
the population of Berlin. The Kaiser utilized the 
presence of his august ally to emphasize again the 
peaceable purposes of the Triple Alliance and the 
intimate relations subsisting between Germany and 
Austria. On August 13, 1889, at the banquet which 
was given immediately after the brilliant pageant 
of a gigantic military parade, held in honor of his 
guest, the Kaiser proposed a toast concluding as fol- 
lows: 

"... My people and my army keep steadfast and 
true to the federated compact concluded between us, 
and the army is fully conscious of the fact that to 
preserve the peace and its blessings for our countries 
it must maintain it and would fight, shoulder to 
shoulder, with the brave Austro-Hungarian army, if 
that should be the will of Providence." 

The Czar of Russia returned the Kaiser's visit in the 

II 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

autumn, remaining in Berlin from October nth to 13th. 
The Kaiser did everything in his power to render this 
brief sojourn as agreeable as possible to his guest, and 
to assure him of his peaceful intentions and of his 
earnest wish to preserve friendly relations with Russia. 
At the banquet given in the White Hall of the old 
castle in Berlin, the Kaiser, on October nth, proposed 
a short but pregnant toast, saying: 

'* I drink to the health of my esteemed friend, his 
Majesty the Emperor of Russia, and to the continu- 
ance of that friendship which has existed between our 
houses for more than a century, and which I am re- 
solved to cultivate as an heirloom descended to me 
from my ancestors." 

The Kaiser had spoken in German, of which the 
Czar possessed a perfect mastery, but the latter pre- 
ferred to reply — to the amazement of everybody, and 
contrary to his former custom — in French, as follows : 
'* I thank your Majesty for your kind words, and I 
entirely share the sentiments which you have just 
expressed. To the health of his Majesty the Emperor 
and King. Hurrah!" 

Nevertheless, the Kaiser continued his friendly ad- 
vances, and two days later, when a luncheon in honor 
of the Czar was given at the officers' mess of the Czar 
Alexander Grenadiers of the Guards, the Kaiser said, 
relative to the Russian army : 

'* On an occasion like the present one, which touches 
a regiment looking back upon a long and glorious 
history of its own, and which has also the honor to see 
here as its guest its imperial chief, memories of bygone 
days may well play a large role. We are carried back 

12 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

to the days when my grandfather, now resting in God, 
but then a young officer, received before the enemy, on 
the battle-field, the Order of St. George, and won in the 
rain of bullets the chieftaincy of the Kaluga Regiment/ 

" I remind you of these facts in order to drink to the 
glorious and joint reminiscences and traditions of the 
Russian and of the Prussian armies. I drink to those 
who in patriotic and heroic defence of their country 
fought at Borodino, who with us bled at the victorious 
battles of Arcis-sur-Aube and Brienne. I drink to 
the brave defenders of Sebastopol and the dauntless 
fighters of Plevna. 

*' I will ask you, gentlemen, to rise and empty your 
glasses to the health of our comrades of the Russian 
army." 

On this occasion the Czar replied in German, briefly 
saying: '* I drink to the health of my brave Grenadier 
Regiment. Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" 

On October i8th the Kaiser and his consort started 
on an extensive journey to the Orient. In the first 
place, this came about because of the wedding fes- 
tivities at Athens attendant upon the marriage of the 
Kaiser's youngest sister, Sophia, with the Crown-prince 
Constantine of Greece. On October 31st the imperial 
couple left Athens for Constantinople, arriving there 
on November 2d. The Sultan accorded the German 
monarch a very brilliant and cordial reception, and it 
soon became evident by the tone of the intercourse 
between the two rulers that the young Kaiser had won 
the friendship of the Padishah, and thus had scored a 
moral conquest of some moment to Germany's wel- 
fare and growing influence in the Orient. 



^ At Brienne, 18 14, against 
the French, both distinctions 
being conferred upon seventeen- 



year-old William I. by Czar 
Alexander I., the ally of Prussia. 
—Ed. 



13 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

The year 1889 closed with brighter prospects than 
had the previous year, and the Kaiser said: 

" I still believe that with God's help I have succeeded 
in prolonging peace for long years to come." 

The Czar of Russia, in his turn, manifested peace- 
able intentions when he wrote, at the beginning of the 
year 1890, in the Russian official Government Mes- 
senger, in a letter to the governor-general of Moscow: 
" Entering upon a new year, I pray God He may con- 
tinue uninterruptedly the development of the internal 
resources of our beloved country, in the midst of that 
peace which we all desire and which blesses us all." 

Everywhere in Europe the conviction gained ground 
that William II., whom the world had regarded before 
his accession as bellicose and reckless, was a sincere 
friend of peace. This trend of public opinion was 
aided by the Kaiser himself, who seldom allowed an 
opportunity to escape him for emphasizing again and 
again his pacific intentions. Illustrative of this was 
the toast which the Kaiser proposed at the banquet 
taking place on August loth of that year on the occa- 
sion of the formal cession by Great Britain to Ger- 
many of the small but important island of Heligoland, 
near the mouth of the Elbe River. The Kaiser then 
said : 

" This beautiful island has come into my possession 
without strife, without the shedding of a single tear. 
The many despatches from the mother-country which 
have come into my hands to-day plainly evince the 
liveliest sympathies for this new acquisition. And 
I make a special point of referring to the manner in 
which Heligoland has been regained. I am proud of 
the fact that it has been done without a struggle. The 

14 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

last time I was here, in 1873, I said to myself that I 
would be happy if I should live to see the island Ger- 
man once more. 

"And now we have acquired the island by right of 
treaty, out of the free will of the government and of 
the legislative branches of a consanguineous country. 
My heart rejoices, therefore, in raising my glass to 
that august lady whom we have to thank for the fact 
that the island has again become German. With far- 
sighted wisdom, with an eye that penetrates the fut- 
ure, the Queen rules her land, and she attaches value 
to living in friendship with me and with my people. 
She appreciates German military men, German melo- 
dies. 

" May the Queen of England live long and prosper!" 

On August 17, 1890, the Emperor William II. paid 
his second visit to the Czar of Russia. Again he made 
the journey by sea, and this time he arrived on Rus- 
sian soil in Reval, thence proceeding to Narva. The 
presence of cabinet officers and ambassadors on this 
occasion, lasting until August 23d, proved its impor- 
tance. But even in Germany there were press voices 
which declared this second visit of the Kaiser to 
Russia superfluous, and which asserted that the Kai- 
ser did not find in Russia that amount of welcome 
which his amiable spirit seemed to deserve. There was 
published, on the German side, a semi-official protest 
against this statement. Subsequent events gave proof 
that this second visit, too, had promoted neighborly 
relations as well as a better personal understanding 
between the two monarchs. 

On October i, 1890, Kaiser William again visited his 
ally, the Emperor and King Francis Joseph. Although 
the sojourn in Vienna was brief, the reception which 
the populace of the Austrian capital accorded the Ger- 

15 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

man Kaiser was, judging by the unanimous verdict of 
the Vienna press, a triumphal one. 

On July ist of the same year the Kaiser paid a 
friendly visit to the Queen of the Netherlands. Even 
with the calm Hollanders, so difficult to inspire with 
enthusiasm, the Kaiser won for himself, solely owing 
to his personal demeanor, general sympathy in the 
shortest space of time. In his toast at the state ban- 
quet given him he said, among other things : 

*' I esteem it a high favor to be able to make a brief 
stay in the Netherlands, and especially in Amsterdam, 
since the House of Orange and mine are closely re- 
lated, and since Germany owes vast gratitude to the 
original House of Orange and Nassau." 

Then adding in the Dutch vernacular, amid great 
enthusiasm: 

" Ik drink op de gezondheid van Hare Majestaten de 
Koningin en de Koningin-Regentes !" 

From that time on the press of the Netherlands, as 
had the leading journals in other countries, began 
sedulously to discuss the person of Kaiser William, and 
to express in well-meaning words the opinion that his 
aims and policy were directed towards the mainte- 
nance of universal peace. 

On October 27, 1891, King Charles of Roumania 
arrived in Berlin on a visit to the Kaiser, and the 
cordial words with which William 11. welcomed his 
guest contained many pleasant references, and were 
calculated to knit more closely the amicable bonds 
uniting the two rulers and their countries. 

However, in July, 1891, a political event of the first 
magnitude had come to pass, an event which on the 

16 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

part of France had been diligently striven for and 
which in Germany had been expected for years with 
more or less anxiety. The close rapprochement of 
France and Russia had become an established fact. 
On July 23d a French naval squadron had arrived in 
Kronstadt, and the honors and attentions showered 
by the Russians upon both officers and men incited in 
France the liveliest gratification. The Czar, in his 
toast on the 28th, dwelt with emphasis on the close and 
friendly ties subsisting between France and Russia. 
France had made great sacrifices, in the shape of a 
Russian loan, to bring about this friendship and its 
open acknowledgment, and under given circumstances 
it is likely that this new aspect of political affairs 
might have seriously shaken the hopes entertained 
throughout Europe by the advocates of peace. It 
was partly due to Kaiser William's efforts that the 
point, so to speak, of this French success was broken 
off in advance. And the French soon enough came 
to appreciate the fact that the Czar was by no means 
willing to have his troops march against Germany in 
order to help France regain Alsace-Lorraine. 

The year 1892, May 30th till June 2d, saw the 
Queen-Regent and the Queen of the Netherlands on a 
visit to the imperial couple in Potsdam. At the dinner 
on May 31st the Kaiser in his toast again paid a high- 
ly flattering tribute to the Dutch people and their rul- 
ing dynasty of Orange, laying particular stress on the 
Orange blood in his own veins and on the high esteem 
in which he held the heroes of that line, and skilful- 
ly allaying, by the turn of his phrases, any lingering 
suspicions of ulterior motives on his own part, praising 
the people of the Netherlands for their unalterable 
loyalty to their ancient dynasty. 

On June 7, 1892, the Czar of Russia, accompanied by 
the heir-presumptive, passed through Kiel, and was 
2 17 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

there received by the Kaiser. The first meeting was on 
board the Kaiser's yacht, the Hohenzollern, and at the 
dinner, which was served at the royal chateau in Kiel, 
the Kaiser toasted his guest as follows: 

'' I drink to the health of the Russian Emperor, who 
henceforth will be, as admiral a la suite of my navy, 
with his expressed consent, carried in my lists in that 
capacity. Long live the Czar!" 

Taking account of his French friends, the Czar an- 
swered in French: '*I am much pleased with this dis- 
tinction, and with the reception accorded me, and I 
drink to the welfare of my dear friend and cousin. 
Long life to the German Kaiser and to the German 
navy!" 

The same evening Alexander III. left the harbor of 
Kiel in order to proceed to Copenhagen. The Rus- 
sian press admitted the importance of this entrevue, 
declaring it to be another '' pillar " for the continuance 
of the peace of the world, a blessing which benefited 
all. One of the leading Russian journals added: 

"Passions will subside. Everybody is weary of nervous- 
ness in foreign politics. It is time for every country to oc- 
cupy itself with its own internal development." 

A peace demonstration on a gigantic scale is what 
the visit amounted to which King Humbert and Queen 
Margherita of Italy paid to the German Kaiser from 
June 2oth to 24th. After a parade in the Lustgarten, 
in Potsdam, on June 21st, the Kaiser made a short, 
felicitous speech of welcome, avoiding, however, politi- 
cal allusions. 

On June 23d, two days later, the Italian royal cou- 
ple were within the walls of Berlin, and the reception 

18 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

accorded them by the entire populace was enthusi- 
astic. 

The year 1893 brought no surprises and no new polit- 
ical groupings in Europe. The conviction had, how- 
ever, by this time taken firm root that Germany and 
her Kaiser would never begin war of their own volition. 
That which at the beginning of his reign would have 
been deemed improbable, if not impossible, had now 
actually come to pass. William II. began to be con- 
sidered by many not alone as the preserver of peace 
so far as Germany w^as concerned, but as the con- 
sistent and able champion of the peace of the world. 

In January, 1893, the marriage of Princess Margaret, 
sister of the Kaiser, and Prince Frederick Charles of 
Hesse, was solemnized in Berlin. Among the guests 
present on this occasion was the Russian Grand-duke 
Nicholas, now the reigning Czar, who subsequently 
married the bridegroom's sister. Princess Alix of Hesse. 
The Kaiser accompanied the Grand-duke to the lunch- 
eon given in his honor by the Czar Alexander Gren- 
adier Guards, and there proposed the following toast, 
couched in highly conciliatory terms : 

"With the permission of your Imperial Highness, I, 
as the eldest comrade in the regiment, will empty my 
first glass to the health of his Majesty, the father of 
your Imperial Highness. 

** All of us in this regiment still remember the gracious 
words with which his Majesty the Czar made his regi- 
ment happy at his visit in 1889. The many evidences 
of interest and the lively satisfaction shown in so many 
ways by his Majesty to his regiment, but also the friend- 
ly sympathy evinced on festive occasions in my house, 
and culminating in the mission now intrusted to your 
Imperial Highness, prompt me to express my warmest 
thanks. We all of us see in your imperial father not 

19 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

only the august chief of this regiment, not only our 
most renowned comrade, but, above all, the bearer of 
approved monarchic institutions, and of a tested friend- 
ship and ties of intimate relationship with my dis- 
tinguished predecessors, whose fruition was sealed, in 
by-gone days, by Russian as well as Prussian regiments 
in battles fought for a common cause. ..." 

In furtherance of the cordial relations existing be- 
tween Emperor William and his allies, the German im- 
perial couple undertook, on April 17th, a journey to 
Rome, to participate there in the celebration of the 
silver wedding of the King and Queen of Italy. On 
April 2 2d a grand banquet took place at the Quirinal, 
and the Kaiser replied to a welcoming speech by King 
Humbert in a manner to bring out clearly the close 
political bonds uniting the two countries. The most 
characteristic passage of his reply was to this effect : 

"Hand in hand with this personal friendship [be- 
tween the two monarchs and dynasties. — Ed.] goes the 
warm sympathy uniting the German and Italian na- 
tions, and which lately has found renewed and forcible 
expression. ..." 

On the return trip from Rome the Kaiser took, on 
May 2d, a brief sojourn in Lucerne. After a circular 
tour of the Lake of Lucerne, the imperial couple were 
welcomed by the President of the Swiss Republic, 
Schenk. At the subsequent banquet the Kaiser re- 
plied to President Schenk' s address — in which he had 
been congratulated on his unceasing efforts to further 
the cause of peace — in a brief speech, the concluding 
paragraphs of which said : 

" It is with satisfaction that I confirm the statement 

20 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

that our good and neighborly relations, existing for 
ages, continue unabated. I indulge the hope that traf- 
fic and commerce between Switzerland and Germany, 
as provided by treaties, will develop in a mutually sat- 
isfactory manner, and that this will contribute towards 
consolidating and increasing the friendship existing be- 
tween the two nations. ..." 

This visit had much to do with the palpable fact that 
from that time on the tone of the Swiss press became 
much more cordial towards Germany. The implied 
pledge of respecting the independence of the Swiss 
people, and the distinct acknowledgment of its polit- 
ical autonomy, both contained in the Kaiser's remarks, 
soothed Swiss susceptibilities. 

The Italian Crown-prince, Victor Emmanuel, was pres- 
ent at the big German manoeuvres along the Rhine and 
in Alsace-Lorraine, in order to testify before the world to 
the intimate bonds uniting the two countries. Several 
times, in Coblentz and in Metz, the Kaiser took occasion 
to dwell publicly on the closeness of these relations. 

On October 31st of the same year a Russian squad- 
ron arrived in the harbor of Toulon, thus returning 
the visit of the French squadron to Kronstadt. Very 
cordial despatches were exchanged between President 
Carnot and Czar Alexander IIL 

The year 1894 brought about an event which did 
much to improve the slightly strained relations between 
Germany and Russia. On March 1 6th the German Par- 
liament approved the commercial treaty with Russia, 
and for years thereafter the commercial affiliations be- 
tween the two nations became much more intimate 
and mutually profitable, and the tone of the press, too, 
changed much for the better on both sides.' 



' It is well known that the 



Kaiser recognized the urgent adjusting commercial and politi 



necessity of improving and re- 



21 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

On April 7 th the Kaiser had a meeting with the King 
of Italy at Venice. On August 5th William II. paid 
another visit to England, being there again received, 
both at court and on the part of the population, with 
pronounced cordiality. 

On November i, 1894, died Czar Alexander III. The 
Kaiser happened to be in Stettin, helping to celebrate 
a regimental festivity of the 2d Regiment of the Gren- 
adiers. While at table news was brought of the death, 
and the Kaiser at once rose and sg.id : 

"... Just now news comes of a saddening and por- 
tentous event. His Majesty the Czar is dead! 

" Nicholas II. has ascended the throne of his fathers, 
one of the most momentous inheritances into which a 
ruler can enter. We who are assembled here, and 
have just thrown a backward glance at our traditions, 
are also conscious of those ties which formerly were 
cemented by the blood-brotherhood of war and which 
have of late united us anew with the Russian imperial 
house. We express our feelings for the new Czar, just 
entering on his duties, by wishing him the assistance of 
Heaven to lend him strength for his heavy task. May 
the Emperor Nicholas II. live long! Hurrah!" 

From the first, relations between the new Russian 
potentate and William II. were better and more cordial 
than they had ever been with Alexander III. The dis- 
tinct improvement dating from his accession benefited 
also the relations between the two countries. 

It was in the early summer of 1895 that the Baltic 
Canal was opened. The Kaiser had personally devised 



cal relations with Russia. When 
Count Capri vi, then his Chancel- 
lor, came to him with the news 
of having perfected the new 



commercial treaty with Russia, 
he called it " a real saving deed !" 
Commerce between Russia and 
Germany was doubled. — Ed. 

22 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

the whole elaborate programme of the series of festiv- 
ities which were to mark this event, and he it was, too, 
who supervised its execution in every detail. In the 
main his design was to turn the affair into an imposing 
and impressive demonstration in favor of peace and 
harmony among the civilized nations. The provisions 
were of such a character that even France could not 
refuse to join in the demonstration. The Kaiser util- 
ized to the full the rare opportunity offered him by this 
concourse of distinguished guests, met for a common 
purpose, in making propaganda for his ideas. Several 
of his set and impromptu speeches during the week 
of festive events attest it. 

On June i8th, at the preliminary fete in Hamburg, 
he said, in answer to the formal address by the mayor, 
Dr. Monckeberg, among other things : 

'' We join two oceans. Towards the sea our thoughts 
are turning — the sea, symbol of eternity. Oceans do 
not sever; they join. And the binding oceans are in 
turn joined by this new link, for the good and the peace 
of nations. The iron-clad power now assembled in 
Kiel harbor is, at the same time, meant to be a symbol 
of peace, of the co-operation of all civilized nations in 
the preservation and maintenance of Europe's mission 
of civilization. 

'' And having cast a glance at the eternal sea, we now 
turn and look upon the sea of nations. The hearts of 
all nations turn questioningly hitherward. They de- 
mand and desire peace. In times of peace only the 
commerce of the world can develop and expand, 
and peace we will and must maintain. Hamburg's 
commerce, too, may it blossom and flourish ! It 
will ever find the protection of the imperial eagle, 
no matter where its paths may lead across the 

world " 

23 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

Eminently pacific, too, was the oration which the 
Kaiser made, on June 21st, at the laying of the corner- 
stone of the Baltic Canal, ^ in the presence of a score 
of crowned heads and of hundreds of their naval and 
diplomatic representatives from all the leading coun- 
tries of the globe. The United States, it will be re- 
membered, was represented on this occasion by a fine 
naval squadron, comprising the (at that time) finest 
and most powerful vessels afloat. Its most interesting 
portion was as follows: 

'' With joy and pride I look upon this brilliant and 
festive gathering, and jointly with my exalted allies I 
bid you, the guests of the empire, a cordial welcome. 
Our heartfelt thanks to you all for the fellow-feeling 
shown in the completion of a work which, planned and 
executed in peace, is to-day given over to the world 
for general use. . . . 

'\ . . But we have toiled not alone for home interests. 
In accordance with the civilizatory mission of the Ger- 
man nation, we throw open to-day the locks of this 
canal to the peaceful commerce of all nations. It will 
be a just source of gratification to us if the growing use 
to which it is put will testify that the aims which im- 
pelled us have not alone been appreciated, but that it 
will promote the welfare of the world. 

''Participation in this dedicatory festivity on the 
part of the powers whose representatives we see 
among us, and whose magnificent vessels we have all of 
us admired, I appreciate the more, as I look upon it as 
a proof that our efforts for the maintenance of peace 
are properly recognized. Germany will utilize for 
peaceful purposes the great enterprise which we in- 



' The official name given this ca- 
nal, joining between points about 
fifteen miles up the Elbe mouth, 

24 



from Hamburg, the North Sea 
to the Baltic Ocean, near Kiel, is 
Kaiser Wilhelm Canal. — Ed. 



THE MAINTENANCE OF WORLD PEACE 

augurate to-day, and will rejoice if the Kaiser Wilhelm 
Canal, in furtherance of this idea, will have a share in 
consolidating and aiding our amicable relations to the 
other powers. ..." 

On July 1 2th Czar Nicholas II., at a banquet in Peter- 
hof, spoke in a markedly appreciative vein of the un- 
usually pacific tone of the Kaiser's speech at the canal 
opening.^ He declared that "the warm and cordial 
note in it finds a hearty response in my own heart." 
The relations between the German Kaiser and the au- 
tocrat of Russia gained, despite the growing intimacy 
of the Russo-French entente, more and more in warmth. 
Although the Czar, perforce, kept up the friendship 
with France brought about under his father's reign, he, 
nevertheless, was by no means unfriendly in his deal- 
ings with the Kaiser and the empire. It is even quite 
permissible to assume that Czar Nicholas 11. , whom 
the world soon was to recognize as an eminent prince of 
peace, utiHzed precisely the excellent relations between 
Russia and France in striving for a gradual reconcil- 
iation between France and Germany. Important 
events which soon after culminated in far Asia and 
elsewhere admit of hardly any other solution. 

It is, however, rather significant that the Kaiser has 
made no pubHc utterance since the opening of the 
Baltic Canal which can be construed as championing 
peace. At least, none such has been reported. Is it, 
therefore, to be deduced that his views have undergone 
a change in this respect, as they certainly did in other 
and vital respects ? Or is it fair to him to assume that 
his purpose once served, and his reputation as a peace- 
loving ruler established, he felt it no longer incumbent 
upon himself to play the conspicuous role of a "prince 
of peace"? Probably both factors had something to 
do with it. Further on in this book, for instance, will 

25 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

be found some more recent speeches by the Kaiser in 
which he, apparently without restraint and giving full 
vent to his natural bent for warlike glory, talks in a 
very different strain from that reported with such 
genuine approval by M. Jules Simon. Another thing, 
too, ought to be given weight in judging the Kaiser. 
His is a very complex nature, and in his impulsive 
way he has quite frequently spoken, under the stress 
of momentary excitement, very differently on impor- 
tant topics at different times. 



II 

THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

His interesting relations with the French statesman, Jules 
Simon — A graphic portrait — Failure of the Empress Fred- 
erick's visit to Paris — Telegrams and letters of condolence 
— The Kaiser and the Dreyfus affair — The incident of the 
Iphigenie — Kaiser's magnanimous speech on the battle-field 
of St. Privat — His toast to his French guest, General Bon- 
nal, and to the French army. 

When Kaiser William 11. came to reign, France had 
not yet disentangled herself from the turbulent and 
dangerous political disorder precipitated by the Bou- 
langist party. The importance of Boulanger and the 
movement which took its name from him lay solely 
in his urging on a war of revenge, and in the acutely 
Germanophobe state of mind in France brought on by 
him and his aides and allies, threatening to produce at 
any moment an explosion of such violence as to render 
subsequent peaceable adjustment very difficult, if not 
impossible. 

When the then Tirard cabinet finally resolved, on 
March 26, 1888, to deprive Boulanger, on the plea of 
having disobeyed orders, of his command of the 13th 
Army Corps, it left Boulanger, but lately elected a 
member of the Chamber of Deputies, the more free to 
continue his agitation and his ramified activity look- 
ing to a revision of the French constitution. These 
machinations on the part of the Boulangist party were 
prone to threaten, if successful, the peace of the world. 

27 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

The storm, however, blew over, and the consistently 
pacific attitude which the Kaiser and his government 
at that critical time preserved assisted the process of 
internal readjustment in France, at least indirectly. 

In 1889 France had her great jubilee of the French 
Revolution, and this centenary celebration had its 
most conspicuous illustration in, the universal exposi- 
tion held at Paris that year. Germany had refused, 
while the old emperor, William I., was still alive, to at- 
tend the exposition. This attitude of Germany, while 
probably wise and appropriate under the given cir- 
cumstances, had, nevertheless, considerably piqued the 
French. On May 6th the exposition was opened. Short- 
ly before that, the League of Patriots, under Deroulede, 
whose principal object was the keeping alive of the 
revanche idea, had joined hands with Boulanger. But 
their joy was short-lived. Boulanger, when the gov- 
ernment made up its mind to indict him, fled, first to 
Brussels, and next to London. The alliance which the 
French government had so ardently desired formally to 
conclude with Russia had now to be indefinitely post- 
poned, at least until the inchoate internal conditions 
in the republic, which at that particular juncture 
seemed destined soon to go under, had again found 
their sound and natural level. The French govern- 
ment had first to furnish the Czar with proof that it 
was both willing and able to create anew order out of 
chaos. With that object in view it finally took the 
bull by the horns, and placed not only Boulanger but 
the whole League of Patriots under accusation, alleg- 
ing as reason their dangerous tendencies, calculated 
to undermine the welfare and security of the state. 
Boulanger, Dillon, and Rochefort were sentenced, in 
contumaciam, to deportation. The manifesto which 
Boulanger published soon after had no very palpable 
effect in France. And when the great and profitable 

28 



THE KAISER AND FRANCfi 

exposition closed, President Carnot, as well as Premier 
Tirard, were able to make addresses breathing peace 
and good-will. A dangerous reef, threatening at the 
very outset of William II. 's reign to involve him in war 
and possible shipwreck, had been removed from view. 
In the succeeding year, 1890, the Kaiser convened in 
Berlin an international conference for the protection 
and safety of the laboring classes. One of the French 
delegates was the noted political leader and writer 
Jules Simon. He, who had been treated with particu- 
lar distinction and tact by the Kaiser, gained a very 
high opinion of the latter. It was probably due to 
Simon that the French journal Le Parisien about this 
time said in an editorial article : 

"Kaiser William has made a speech at the opening of the 
Reichstag which, as regards the preservation of universal peace, 
was of undeniable quieting effect. In it he stated emphatical- 
ly his purpose to launch the imperial policy more and more 
into the paths which lead to a study, amelioration and possi- 
ble final solution of the social question. 

"The physiognomy of the young sovereign accentuates it- 
self from day to day with greater distinctness. Certainly he 
has remained above all a soldier, for, in enumerating the re- 
forms aimed at by him, he concludes with threatening dis- 
turbers of the peace, just as he is creating new regiments all 
the time, so as to secure, in his own way, the peace of Europe. 

"Nevertheless, it seems that the grandson of William the 
Conqueror means to conquer, first of all, the working-man. 
He clearly sees the requirements of the times, and he loyally 
acknowledges his duty to do all in his power in order to im- 
prove the lot of those who are born to toil and suffering. 

"With us the successor of Frederick III. has been greatly 
distrusted. At his accession there were many who believed 
that war would come because of diplomatic jugglery, or be- 
cause of frontier disputes magnified for the purpose. Next 
we have smiled at his feverish activity, his odes to the stars, 
his ceaseless parades, his innumerable hunting excursions, his 
rescripts regulating the most trivial things. 

" We must abandon the scoffing mood. Kaiser William II. 

29 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

has the will to do the right and the good. He works hard, and 
he understands exceedingly well conditions with which sov- 
ereigns as a rule do not trouble themselves. 

"This is no reason why we should love him (there is too 
much spilt blood between him and France) , but it is a reason 
why we should no longer speak of him with self-sufficiency. 
Only by taking ourselves the lead in all reforms, only by con- 
tinuing ourselves to be the benefactors of mankind, only by 
breaking ourselves the old, worn-out moulds, and making 
steadily towards progress in all great things, may our country 
successfully grapple with the new methods inaugurated by our 
foes." 

Under his own signature Jules Simon published in 
the Revue de Paris, in 1894 (in its August issue), a por- 
trait sketch of Kaiser William. Some excerpts from 
it are of interest. He says: 

"... For a long time I have been asked to give a portrait of 
William II., but I am resolved not to draw one. I have not 
the time to do justice to it. . . . He who would draw such a 
portrait would have to study thoroughly every phase of the 
history of Europe since the death of Kaiser Frederick, for 
nothing has happened since then in which William II. has not 
had a hand. The author would also have to make himself 
acquainted with all the mazes of diplomacy and with the life 
of the courts, and to do this down to the very smallest details. 
For that is one of the peculiar and characteristic traits of the 
young Kaiser's mind, that it embraces at one and the same 
time the biggest as well as the most trivial matters. He 
knows in advance what is contained in the reports of his chan- 
cellor and of his courtiers. His biographer would also have 
to possess intimate acquaintance with the life of those great 
contemporaries who have had dealings with William II., above 
all, of the life of Prince Bismarck, who in a certain sense has 
been the sharer of imperial power, and that of Count Moltke, 
whose life was as glorious and not quite so stormy as Bis- 
marck's. 

"... I have been told that I have seen and conversed with 
him. True. But that I have done jointly with all those 
diplomats who have spent some time in Berlin. One cannot 
judge a man like this one in half an hour, nor even in two hours. 

30 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

" . . . It is necessary to create a third category for William 
II. He talks much because he thinks much, and he confides 
to you his thoughts, even without knowing you, because he 
means to let the whole world know his thoughts. 

"... The congress which I attended took place in the halls 
of the chancellor's palace — i. e., at Bismarck's, whose position 
at that time, though it was just before his retirement, did not 
appear to be shaken. The Kaiser did not come to the opening 
of our sessions, and never put in an appearance at the congress. 
But we were invited to a great court reception, to a concert 
given in honor of the Prince of Wales, and to a banquet which 
the Kaiser gave us. These monarchical ceremonies were an 
interesting spectacle for me, who was not brought up on the 
lap of duchesses, and also for my French colleagues, who had 
not even known the Emperor Napoleon III. personally. 

"... The whole crowd pressed towards a wide entrance at 
the moment when the majesties were announced. The Em- 
peror and the Empress saluted right and left, and chatted for 
a moment with guests of distinction. The Kaiser accosted me 
in an amiable manner, saying a few pleasant words, and the 
Empress did the same, which, I am told, is a favor seldom 
shown on her part. The court marshal then begged me to 
take my seat at the table on the right hand of the Kaiser. . . . 

"I thus found myself at table between the Kaiser and a 
lady — 'I believe a lady-in-waiting, or the chief marechale. The 
Empress sat on the left of the Kaiser, and she had on her left 
the Bishop of Breslau, my colleague, and the vice-president of 
the congress, he who since has become his Eminence Cardinal 
Prince-Bishop Kopp. Count Moltke sat opposite the Kaiser, 
and hence directly facing me. The Kaiser chatted with me 
during the whole of the dinner. My memory is not exact 
enough to say what he told me on that particular day, or on one 
of the succeeding ones. But I recall at least the substance of 
the principal conversations I had with him. On that particu- 
lar day on which he, standing on the steps of the throne, re- 
ceived the whole court, there was, of course, no conversation 
with him, and this applies also to the great concert which took 
place in the White Hall of the royal castle. But the Kaiser 
has created another kind of court of which he told me himself, 
and which is envied as intensely as was the Marly court of 
Louis XIV. The Kaiser receives every week, on a certain 
night, twenty of his friends — no more. I quote his own words: 
I receive twenty friends, no more — officers, professors. 

31 



( ( ( 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

The public believes that we meet in order to hold a species of 
secret council of state. It is supposed that we occupy our- 
selves with politics. On the contrary! We simply meet for 
relaxation, and to drink and gossip. We talk about art, about 
literature.' 

"The Kaiser honored me with an invitation to one of these 
informal meetings. ... It was dusk, the hall not too well lit, 
and the light of waning day struggled with that of the candles. 
The whole furniture consisted of a number of stools around a 
large table covered with green cloth. I fancied I was in an 
antechamber, when suddenly one of the officers detached him- 
self from a group near by and approached me, asking whether 
I had been pleased with my visit to Sans Souci. I immediately 
recognized the Kaiser. I had, indeed, been to Sans Souci that 
morning in one of the court coaches, offered me in the most 
amiable way. He wanted to know exactly what impression 
Sans Souci had made on me. I told him that Voltaire's room, 
arranged in somewhat forced taste, had not pleased me. He 
at once spoke of the rooms of Frederick the Great. 

"'I have seen them,' I said, ' and I have also found his desk, 
but not his flute.' 

"Laughingly he answered that I should at least see the 
score of the flute concerts, of which he was getting out an 
edition, and on which much care was being expended. He 
said he was going to send me a copy of it. Nobody could have 
made a present in a more amiable manner. The book was, 
indeed, sent me some time after in Paris by the German Em- 
bassy there, 

" We seated ourselves around the green table, and, as on the 
day of the banquet, I was told to sit next to the Kaiser. Then 
the smokirig and drinking began. This time I had a long con- 
versation with the Kaiser. The meeting lasted till long after 
midnight. Before reporting about this conversation I must 
speak of the Kaiser's French. 

"He does speak French. 

"'Fluently?' 

"Very fluently. 

"'Correctly?' 

"Very correctly. 

"'Does he speak it with an accent?* 

"Entirely without an accent. The one of us two who 
spoke the purest French was he. For I have in my language 
a little, perhaps very little, of the Breton accent, and the Kaiser 

32 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

speaks like a Parisian. He asked me what I thought of his 
pronunciation. 

'"You speak,' I said, 'like a Parisian.* 

" 'That is not astonishing,' he replied, ' I have a friend (he 
uses this term by preference when mentioning his servants) 
who was my tutor for ten years and who still remains with me. 
He is a Frenchman and a purist. Have you ever heard me 
use an incorrect expression?' 

(" I am not only member of the Academy, but also member 
of the commission for the publication of our great French 
dictionary.) 

" ' Only once,' I answered. 

"I saw that the Kaiser was astonished. 

"'And when was that?' he asked. 

'"It was when your Majesty said to me, " We meet to drink 
and gossip," using the term godailler.' 

"'But godailler is a good French word,' said the Kaiser. 
'You will find it in the dictionary of the Academy.' 

" ' It is in the dictionary. But it is used neither in the 
Academy nor in the drawing-rooms of the Academy.' 

'"I shall make a note of that. And that was the only 
time?' 

"'I swear to your Majesty, you are, like your teacher, a 
purist.' 

"This little matter seemed to amuse him hugely. In the 
further course of our conversation I noticed that he possessed 
an extraordinarily intimate acquaintance with our principal 
writers. Since I know how he manages to keep constantly 
au courant of all the details of state and army affairs, and since 
I saw how crowded and intense his life is, I could not under- 
stand how he still found time to read French novels. He as- 
sured me also that he enjoyed family life, and that he was 
never happier than when dining at hdme, alone with his family, 
like a plain Berlin citizen. His wife, he said, was in the habit 
of reading a chapter from a novel before retiring.^ This must 
surely be true, because he told me so, although such a univer- 
sality is scarcely credible. But his is a mind which is never 



^ But whatever may have been 
true in 1890 in this respect, now- 
adays the Kaiser, except during 
his Northland summer trips on 
board his yacht, hardly ever reads 



a novel, and relatively but few 
books of any kind. Those he does 
read treat, with rare exceptions, 
of serious topics — naval, military, 
political, economic, etc. — Ed. 



33 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

in repose, never loses a minute's time, and grasps everything 
with amazing rapidity. 

"I was fishing for some expression from him about our 
modern writers, and he did make such a one, without being 
much pressed. Instantly he showed sympathy and antipathy, 
both of a passionate kind. His admiration was for Ohnet, 
about whom he spoke in a few amiable phrases, turned with 
the skill and acumen of a professional critic. His antipathy 
was for Zola, and, I must confess, it was very violent. I made 
an attempt to defend my famous compatriot, and said that he 
was an incomparable teller of stories and a very keen ob- 
server. 

"'I know very well,' said the Kaiser, 'that he has great 
merits. But he does not owe his success to them, but rather 
to the immoral and indecent things with which he poisons his 
writings. And yet he it is whom France at present prefers to 
all her other writers. He it is who is accorded enthusiastic 
acclaim, and that gives us in other countries the right to pass 
a severe verdict on the state of your morals.' 

"I was suffering acutely at this moment, all the more as the 
Kaiser made this remark without bad intention and without 
prejudice. 

"'I hear,' continued the Kaiser, 'that a new book by him 
is soon to appear. You will see that that, too, will be greedily 
devoured, and that your whole literature will disappear before 
this news.* 

"I took the liberty to remark that Zola is read, too, in 
Berlin. 

'"Not with pleasure,' said the Kaiser, 'and more from cu- 
riosity. His readers here are but thinly distributed. But in 
your country he will be in the hands of everybody.' 

' ' I should have liked to obtain from the Kaiser some ex- 
pression of political import, but did not like to force the con- 
versation into that channel. However, I made several at- 
tempts in that direction, with all the diplomatic skill I could 
muster, and put on a very innocent face the while. But the 
Kaiser has an indescribable manner of overhearing at certain 
moments certain words. Nevertheless, I succeeded in prod- 
ding him into two expressions, both of which I rejoiced to 
hear, although they are not at all original. We spoke about 
the war, and the Kaiser said : 

'"Since my accession I have thought a great deal, and I 
have come to the conclusion that for a man situated as I am 

34 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

it is worth a great deal more to do good to mankind than to 
inspire them with fear.' 

"And as I then touched on the question of a possible future 
war between the two countries, and added that the people of 
France were for the far larger part inclined to peace, the 
Kaiser said, with amazing impartiality: 

"'I declare to you that your army has made splendid 
progress. It has worked well; it is ready for war. If your 
army should— which I sincerely hope will never be the case- 
face our own army on the field of battle, nobody could foresee 
the end of the struggle. And, therefore, I hold him a criminal 
and a fool who should undertake to urge these two nations 
into a war against each other. . . .' 

"I trust that in this brief recital my memory has not been 
inexact. I have purposely been incomplete in it; but I hope 
for that very reason I have spoken the truth. And I beHeve 
that these few lines will be accepted as well as an expression 
of our gratitude for the reception which the Kaiser gave us " 

^ However, politically Germany and France were not 
ripe at that time for a closer understanding. The 
Kaiser, though, was of opinion that on the neutral 
field of art a gradual reconciliation might be effected 
between the two countries. It was with this purpose 
in view that he induced his mother, the Empress Fred- 
erick, when she, in February, 1891, went to England 
on a visit to Queen Victoria, to take her way via Paris. 
She was to try and interest French artists in partici- 
pating in the International Art Exposition in Berlin. 
It was the first time since the war of 1870-71 that a 
member of the German imperial family found itself in 
Paris. The Empress Frederick, accompanied by her 
daughter, Princess Margaret, arrived in Paris and 
put up at the German Embassy with Count Miin- 
ster. 

The public at first was silent, though deferential. A 
number of the leading French poHticians and govern- 
ment officials called and inscribed their names in the 
lists of the German Embassy. The larger part of the 

.35 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

French press welcomed the Empress Frederick very 
amiably. Le Parisien said : 

"The people, with their common-sense, show good-natured 
curiosity, although no real sympathy, for the German Em- 
press, since she it was who merely tolerated, not provoked, the 
war." 

Le Gaulois, usually rabidly anti-German, praised the 
Empress Frederick for her exalted womanly virtues 
and for her fairness in adjudging France. 

Le Temps pointed out that the Empress Frederick 
had repeatedly expressed the sentiment that "the fine 
arts and their culture will bring about the approxima- 
tion of nations," and its welcoming article concluded 
with the words: 

' ' Perhaps we shall now see the first step in such a policy of 
reconciliation, and the arrival of the Empress-mother will be 
the first link in such a rapprochement." 

This conciliatory attitude of the Paris press was in 
consonance with the previous reports sent Kaiser 
William, and there was no doubt that the leading 
circles in France at that time felt well disposed. It is, 
therefore, unjust to the Kaiser to blame him for ex- 
posing his mother to the insults of an excitable and 
inconstant populace. He could not foresee the turn 
which affairs took a couple of days later. 

On February i8th the Empress-mother had arrived 
in Paris, and on the 24th the entire Paris press was 
discussing the question, more or less dispassionately 
and rationally, whether the time had come to con- 
sider a rapprochement with Germany. By far the 
larger number of journals gave a verdict in favor of 
the idea. 

This, however, did not at all suit the programme 
of the League of Patriots, under Deroulede, and the 

36 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

Boulangists. The Boulangists convened a largely at- 
tended mass - meeting, in which the presence of the 
Empress Frederick was ventilated and the facts in the 
case were represented in such twisted and garbled 
shape as to make it appear that the arrival and so- 
journ of the Empress Frederick was an insult to 
France. It was so declared by the meeting. 

This meeting was held on the 25th, and on the 26th 
demonstrations were begun, and all the French ar- 
tists, who already had intimated their willingness to at- 
tend the Berlin exposition, retracted their half -promise. 
The excitement of the masses in Paris, artificially 
produced by Boulangist machinations, grew within a 
few hours so rapidly that it became necessary for the 
Empress Frederick to hurriedly leave Paris. Her de- 
parture, in fact, resembled a flight, and had to be 
managed with great precaution. Fortunately for 
peace and Franco-German relations, she was enabled 
to leave without any serious disturbance. 

Thus it was that, owing to the intrigues of the League 
of Patriots and of the Boulangists, the Kaiser's design 
to effect a rapprochement between the two countries, 
hostile for a score of years, and which had been ap- 
proved and even counselled beforehand by a large 
number of the leading personages in France, was 
frustrated. The Kaiser was offended. He replied to 
the demonstration of a number of Parisian political 
clubs by a decree which rendered once more com- 
munication between Alsace-Lorraine and France very 
difficult. In fact, the passport regulations on the 
frontier were made so stringent that for a time pas- 
senger traffic almost completely ceased. 

This retaliatory measure increased bitterness on the 
French side, and it led to an interpellation by the 
Boulangists in the Chamber of Deputies, on July 
1 6th, as to the passport measures taken by Germany 

37 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

in Alsace-Lorraine. The French cabinet, however, re- 
fused to discuss this tickHsh subject. However, the 
Chamber was so wrought up at the time that it passed 
a resolution, 286 against 203 votes, to debate the inter- 
pellation, notwithstanding the government's refusal 
to answer it. The government, though, was able to 
muster sufficient votes to enforce adjournment for a 
day. And on reassembling on the day following the 
Chamber refused, by a vote of 319 to 3, to enter into 
a discussion of the interpellation. 

Notwithstanding this incident, the year 1891 was not 
to close without bringing more favorable auspices for 
reconciliation with Germany. On October loth the 
governor - general of Alsace - Lorraine, Prince Hohen- 
lohe,* was given a grand ovation in Strassburg, on 
his return from a trip to Berlin, the occasion being the 
rescinding of the decree relative to the enforcement of 
passport regulations in passing the frontier either way. 
This step, it was ascertained later on, was due to the 
initiative of the Kaiser, and the fact created a very 
good impression, not only in Germany and in the 
Reichslande,^ but in France as well. 

A new proof of his conciliatory spirit was furnished 
by the Kaiser in his speech in Stettin, on December 
14th, on the launching of the big iron-clad, the Weis- 
senhurg. He said in it: 

"Thou shalt bear the name of that day which was 
portentous for our history, for on that day^ was laid 
the foundation-stone for the structure whose summit 
bears the imperial crown. The name will recall that 



* Subsequently Chancellor of 
the Empire. 

^ The official German designa- 
tion for Alsace-Lorraine, meaning 
"lands belonging to the empire." 



^ The battle of Weissenburg 
was the first serious engagement 
that took place at the out- 
break of the Franco - German 
War.— Ed. 

38 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

battle-field on which, for the first time, under the 
leadership of Crown - prince Frederick William, the 
united German armies won a victory over the knight- 
ly foe, and by this first victory for the German arms 
earned the possibility of further successes." 

This single word "knightly" sufficed once more to 
give encouragement to the advocates of reconciliation 
in France. 

In 1893, after the adjustment of the Panama Canal 
scandal, the internal conditions of France began per- 
ceptibly to improve. The republic was not swamped, 
but, on the contrary, it was found that after the 
complete removal of Boulanger sounder life was in- 
fused into French parliamentarism. 

On October i8th the German ambassador in Paris, 
Count Miinster, sent the following telegram to the 
widow of ex-President MacMahon: 

** His Majesty the German Emperor, as soon as he had been 
informed of the sad loss which you have suffered, instructed 
me to depose a wreath upon the grave of the intrepid, 
noble-minded field-marshal, thus to testify to his deep sym- 
pathy. ..." 

This courteous attention shown by the Kaiser made 
a great impression in France, and Jules Simon sum- 
moned enough courage to write in Le Figaro, a fort- 
night later, on the question of Alsace-Lorraine, in a 
manner which two years before would not have been 
tolerated. He wrote: 

" How often have they told me in Germany: ' You have ob- 
stinately made up your minds not to sign the receipt. Re- 
sign yourselves at last to the thought that the two provinces 
are lost to you — which is an accomplished fact — and peace, 
real peace, will be at once established between the two coun- 
tries '! I can well believe that. But the Prussians, who 
give us this advice, themselves did not act on it after Jena. 

39 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

They know just as well as we do that honor does not permit 
us to follow it. We cannot supinely acquiesce in the conquest 
while our forcibly Germanized brothers stretch out their arms 
to us. It is not our duty to assume responsibilities for the 
future. But that which we may properly do, and what it is 
quite possible to do, is to postpone all ideas of war and revenge. 
And this we are now doing. Public opinion demands a truce 
for a long period, and the giving notice of its termination on 
short order, and on the basis of present territorial possessions. 
Public opinion is ready to prolong this truce until the end of 
the century, in the hope that peaceable toil will bring about a 
reposeful and conciliatory frame of mind. That at this mo- 
ment is our role and our thought." 

On June 24, 1894, the President of the French Re- 
public, Carnot, while in Lyons, fell a victim to the 
dagger of the Italian assassin and anarchist, Caserio. 
The very first personage outside of France who ex- 
pressed his sympathy at the horrible deed was the 
German Emperor. He telegraphed : 

" To Madame Carnot, Paris, — Her Majesty the 
Empress and myself are most deeply grieved at 
receipt of the awful news from Lyons. Be assured, 
madame, that our full sympathy and all our thoughts 
are at this moment with you and your family. May 
God give you strength to withstand this terrible 
blow. Worthy of his great name, Monsieur Carnot 
died like a soldier on the field of honor. 

"William I. R." 

This telegram from the German Emperor was greeted 
in the great majority of Paris papers with sincere 
approval. Casimir Perier succeeded to the presidency. 
The Kaiser shortly after resolved on another mani- 
festation. Two French naval officers, sentenced as 
spies to terms of, respectively, six and four years 
confinement, and who had only served six months of 

40 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

their time in the fortress of Glatz, were pardoned by 
the Kaiser. This act of clemency was accompanied 
by the declaration that it was done to show sympathy 
with the French people at this their hour of profound 
grief. This courtly act of the Kaiser's deeply moved 
wide strata of the French nation. The major por- 
tion of the Paris press received his accompanying 
declaration with enthusiastic gratitude. The newly 
elected President, Perier, personally went to the Ger- 
man Embassy to render his thanks for the chivalrous 
act. Large numbers of leading French politicians fol- 
lowed his example. It is interesting to note that the 
German press, in its overwhelming portion, did not 
agree with the Kaiser in this matter, opining that this 
meant a too great friendliness of their ruler towards 
the French. 

In his book Quatre Portraits, in 1896, Jules Simon 
said : 

' ' I cannot help expressing the view that the attitude of the 
German Emperor towards France has, especially lately, met all 
my expectations and hopes. ... I regard Emperor William II. 
and Pope Leo XIII. as the two most interesting figures of our 
time. . . . The Kaiser, I sincerely believe, is one of the greatest 
hopes for the continuance of peace . I believe — I know — that he 
wishes peace. He does not feel hostile towards France ; he has 
studied her in every phase. He has shown, under peculiarly 
difficult circumstances, courtesy and friendliness. I no more 
than others have forgotten 1870, and have never for a mo- 
ment lost sight of French hopes. But I put peace, so long as 
honor remains intact, above all other earthly boons, and I be- 
lieve with the Kaiser that every hour of prolonged peace pro- 
motes peace itself." 

On January 29, 1895, the Kaiser sent the following 
telegram to the son-in-law of Marshal Canrobert, the 
naval lieutenant De Navacelle, in Paris : 

''My ambassador announces to me the death of 

41 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

Marshal Canrobert. With all my heart I and my 
guard corps sorrow at the death of the heroic de- 
fender of St. Privat, who filled us forever with ad- 
miration." 

On the afternoon of the same day the Kaiser re- 
ceived the telegram of Lieutenant Canrobert, apprising 
him likewise of the death of his father. And to this 
the Kaiser replied : 

"Deeply moved by the mournful news you com- 
municated, I must express to you my heartfelt sym- 
pathy. Both my late grandfather and father have 
often spoken to me of the brave marshal with the 
highest admiration and esteem 

"William I. R." 

On January 30th son and son-in-law together replied 
as follows: 

" Marshal Canrobert would have profoundly appreciated the 
sentiments which your Majesty, also speaking for your guard 
corps, has uttered. In their grief the family of the marshal 
send to your Majesty respectful assurances of their gratitude." 

Meanwhile, however, Casimir Perier, in a moment of 
chagrin at his limited liberty of action, and at the 
rather inconsiderate procedure of the Dupuy cabinet, 
had resigned the presidency. Felix Faure succeeded 
him. Towards the end of May the mouthpieces of 
the revanche idea in France once more took umbrage 
at a step of the Kaiser's. He had invited to the 
dedicatory celebration of the opening of the Kiel Canal, 
which he meant to turn into a grand manifestation in 
favor of peace, representatives of the French Republic. 
But the irreconcilable Nationalist wing bitterly op- 
posed the despatching of a French squadron to Kiel. 

42 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

They contended that to accept this invitation would 
be construed in Alsace-Lorraine as a definite renuncia- 
tion of the provinces lost in 1 87 1 . The French Minister 
of Foreign Affairs, Hanotaux, however, demonstrated 
to the Chamber of Deputies, at the session of May 
31st, that France had every reason to put herself on 
a good footing with Germany. He showed that im- 
portant events were impending in Asia. England 
and Japan, he claimed, had concluded an alliance 
whose ultimate purpose was nothing less than the 
dismemberment of China, and that this would mean 
the transference of the huge far Asiatic problem to 
European soil. Then Russia, France, and Germany 
joined in a common diplomatic action and raised a 
strong protest. This joint action, in which Germany 
and France, at least in diplomacy, were shoulder to 
shoulder for the first time in many years, had the 
desired effect. This diplomatic action was beyond 
question the most important and far-reaching event 
of 1895. Hanotaux said he could state with emphasis 
that in this matter Germany had rendered France a 
great service, and that it would, therefore, be an act 
of folly and of gross discourtesy for France not to ac- 
cept an invitation tendered in a spirit of international 
politeness. The sole concession made by the French 
government to the irreconcilables was that the French 
vessels were to enter Kiel harbor together with the 
Russian ones. The former French Minister of War, 
General Dubarail, at that time wrote in Le Gaulois, and 
Jules Simon in Le Figaro, in favor of participating in 
the celebration at Kiel, 

In August, 1895, the leading journals of Paris called 
attention to the fact that the opinions so far held in 
France relative to conditions in Alsace-Lorraine had 
been based on error. They pointed out that far from 
impatiently waiting for France to reunite them with 

43 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

their former country, the Alsatians, as a matter of fact, 
were quite satisfied with their new conditions. Com- 
merce and industry flourished in those provinces to an 
unprecedented degree, and the Germanization of the 
conquered districts was proceeding, they wrote, slowly 
but surely. 

On June 8, 1896, the Kaiser, hearing of the demise 
of Jules Simon, the intrepid and indefatigable advocate 
of reconciliation between the two countries, sent the 
following despatch to the President of the French 
Republic : 

''France weeps again at the grave of one of her 
great sons. Monsieur Jules Simon is dead. I shall 
forever remain under the charm of his personality, 
when I recall the days during which he lent me his 
precious services for the amelioration of the lot of the 
laboring classes. Accept, Monsieur le President, the 
assurances of my sincere sympathy." 

To this President Faure replied: 

"France is sensible of the sentiments to which your Majesty 
lends expression at the death of one of her most distinguished 
sons. I beg your Majesty will accept the expression of my 
sincere thanks. Felix Faure." 

Another step in the direction of reconciliation was 
taken by the Kaiser when he informed France, through 
the German ambassador in Paris, Count Miinster, that 
Germany would make a point in taking part in the 
Paris exposition of 1900. This official and formal 
announcement made a vivid and lasting impression in 
France. One of the most significant signs of it was 
the address delivered at the annual meeting of the 
Alsace-Lorraine Protective Society, hitherto one of 
the chief centres of anti-German spirit in France. 

44 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

The principal orator on that occasion said, amid 
tokens of general approval: 

"The wrath at our defeat has gradually evaporated. We 
no longer hate the great nation whose adversary we are com- 
pelled to be, and we do not judge it unfairly. The strife be- 
tween France and Germany has the ennobling character of a 
strife between two dogmas and two ideals." 

On May 4, 1897, fire broke out at a charitable bazaar 
held in Paris, at which thirty-four persons perished, 
among them the wife of the Due d'Alengon, a sister 
of the Empress Elizabeth of Austria. The Kaiser 
again utilized the opportunity furnished to express 
his sympathy in a telegram to the President of the 
French Republic. 

On May nth, a week later, the Kaiser sent the sum 
of ten thousand marks, to be utilized for the relief of 
those poor who were to have been benefited by the 
proceeds of the fateful charity bazaar. 

In August, 1897, President Faure visited the Czar in 
Russia, and the amiable words employed by Nicholas 
II., in a toast proposed in honor of his guest, created 
wild enthusiasm in Paris, so much so that nondescript 
throngs created several disturbances in front of the 
German Embassy there. The police, however, soon 
dispersed these mobs, and soon after reliable news 
reached Paris that the Russian government had been 
rather unfavorably impressed with these street demon- 
strations against Germany. Thereupon the latter com- 
pletely ceased. They had sufficed, though, to show 
that with a certain part of the French population, albeit 
the minority, the slightest encouragement sufficed to 
inflame anew the hatred of Germany. 

From 1898 on, France became absorbed for several 
years in the Dreyfus matter, dividing the nation into 
two hostile camps, and claiming the interest of the 
entire civilized world. Of course, those elements in 

45 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 



France, both in her army and outside of it, who op- 
posed, as their chief poHtical dogma, reconciliation 
with Germany, found this an excellent opportunity for 
involving their late foe in the case. Italy, Russia, and 
Austria were also named as powers whose interests had 
been drawn into the vortex of this abominable affair. 
But it suited the intentions of the powerful ''revanche 
idea" clique best to make out as strong a case as 
possible against Germany and the Kaiser, notwith- 
standing the fact that the latter and his government 
gave solemn assurances, through the mouth of the 
imperial chancellor in the Reichstag, that they could 
in perfect innocence wash their hands of the whole 
miserable business. This assurance, however, was 
only given when the "psychological moment" had 
arrived, and after a network of legends and myths had 
been spread throughout France coupling the Kaiser's 
name with that of Dreyfus. 

It was at that time stated, with more or less plausi- 
bility, that Germany it was to whom Dreyfus had sold 
his alleged military secrets, and during the last phase 
of the trial the person of the Kaiser became directly 
implicated on certain pieces of evidence to the effect 
that suspicious scraps of the Kaiser's handwriting, 
commenting on the Dreyfus case, and, by innuendo, 
showing past relations with Dreyfus, had been picked 
up in the waste-basket near the Kaiser's desk in the 
New Palace, Potsdam.^ 



' Internal evidence alone show- 
ed to anybody familiar with the 
Kaiser's vigorous, though eccen- 
tric, handwriting, and with the 
topography of and the regula- 
tions governing visitors to the 
New Palace, how impossible it 
was that this portion of the evi- 
dence adduced against Dreyfus 
could be true. The handwriting 



produced at the trial showed a 
radical divergence in essential re- 
spects from that of the Kaiser. 
Besides that, though, nobody but 
an idiot would have thrown such 
a treacherous piece of writing in 
a waste-basket whose contents 
the next morning would be free to 
the world. And a third clincher : 
at the time mentioned by the 



46 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

Unquestionably, it was a strong proof of the much 
better relations meanwhile established between the 
two countries, and of the powerlessness of the Ger- 
manophobe minority in France to imbitter anew and 
permanently these relations, that, even at a time when 
partisan feeling was seething, these systematic attempts 
to connect Germany with the Dreyfus case proved 
abortive and led to no serious ebullitions of anti-Ger- 
man sentiment. 

In July of that year (1898) the French navy met 
with a calamity. The Bourgogne went down, and the 
Kaiser sent from his Hohenzollern, on board of which 
he was just then pursuing his annual midsummer trip 
to the Scandinavian north, a telegram of condolence 
to the President of France. 

During the last part of 1898 several significant 
signs made their appearance. Duvignet, a well-known 
French publicist, who had all along been a grim foe to 
reconciliation, changed his tune completely, and in his 
influential paper, UAutorite, went the lengths of coun- 
selling a better understanding with Germany, "even if 
renunciation of Alsace-Lorraine should have to be final." 
In a second article, on December i8th, Duvignet him- 
self declared that it afforded him great gratification 
to be able to say that his bold attitude had brought 
him ''from every side the approval of his readers, even 
from stern patriots." Another noted writer, Lemaitre, 
in the Echo de Paris, likewise advocated the same plan 
in an able manner. 

A few weeks later, in January, 1899, the Kaiser was 
suffering from a cold and was unable to hold personally 
the regular New Year's reception at the castle in Ber- 
lin. The President of the French Republic immediately 
requested the ambassador in Berlin to make personal 



witnesses at the trial the Kaiser 
was not staying at the New 



Palace at all, but was off on his 
Northern summer trip. — Ed. 



47 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

inquiries about the Kaiser's health. The monarch, 
after his recovery, on January loth, reciprocated this 
courtesy by paying a call on the French ambas- 
sador. 

When President Faure died suddenly, from an apo- 
plectic fit, the German Emperor again came quickly to 
the front, and on February 1 8th wired to the widow, 
Madame Faure, as follows : 

"Greatly saddened by the news of the death of 
your husband, the President of the French Republic, I 
hasten to assure you how sincerely I mourn with you 
your terrible loss. The Empress joins me in heartfelt 
wishes that the Almighty God will give you strength 
to bear the sorrow now bowing you down. 

''William I. R." 

To attend the funeral of President Faure, the Kaiser 
sent to Paris five representatives — among them his 
adjutant-general. Prince Anton Radziwill, and one of 
his highest court officials, Count Wedel. The papers 
there spoke in a very sympathetic tone of the honor 
thus conferred on the defunct chief of the nation. 

On July 6th of the same year another incident 
occurred which testified very plainly to the steadily im- 
proving relations between the two countries. Steam- 
ing with his yacht, the Hohenzollern, into the road- 
stead of Bergen, Norway, that being one of the first 
points on his regular midsummer recreation itinerary, 
he found there awaiting him the German school-ship 
Gneisenau and the French school-ship Iphigenie. The 
latter, of course, had been ordered there by previous 
arrangement with the French government, just as 
much as the German vessel had obeyed the Berlin 
authorities in meeting the French vessel there. It is 
well to state explicitly this fact here, because it was 

48 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

denied at the time, for obvious reasons, by some of the 
French as well as Russian papers. 

The Kaiser, attired in an admiral's fatigue uniform, 
paid a visit on board the French vessel. He shook hands 
with each of the French officers, thoroughly inspected 
and overhauled the ship in every quarter, made himself 
personally acquainted with the entire crew, and then 
extended a cordial invitation to the French ''middies" 
to pay him a visit on board the Hohenzollern. 

Imm.ediately thereafter the Kaiser addressed a tele- 
gram to President Loubet, saying: 

" I have had the pleasure to see, on board the 
school-ship Iphigenie, young French mariners whose 
soldierly and sympathetic bearing, worthy of their 
noble country, has made a vivid impression upon me. 
As a mariner and comrade, my heart was gladdened 
by the amiable reception accorded me by the com- 
raander, the officers, and the crew. I congratulate 
you, Monsieur le President, upon the happy chance 
afforded me to become acquainted both with the 
Iphigenie and your amiable compatriots. 

" William." 

The answer by President Loubet was to the follow- 
ing effect: 

' ' I am greatly touched by the telegram which your Imperial 
Majesty has addressed to me after a visit on board the school- 
ship Iphigenie, and I must thank your Majesty for the honors 
shown our naval men, and for the words in which your Majesty 
had the kindness to describe the impression which this visit 
had left. Loubet." 

On July 7th some sixty cadets and all the officers of 
the Iphigenie paid a visit on board the Hohenzollern, 
off Bergen. Paris papers reported about this visit : 
4 49 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

"The Emperor, again in fatigue uniform, with his cloak 
reaching below the knees, behaved with the most charming 
amiability. He saluted his guests : ' Here are your comrades ! 
There are ten of them who speak French. As for the others, 
you'll have to try and get along with one another somehow.' 
Then sandwiches and various refreshing beverages were dis- 
tributed." 

The report winds up by saying: 

"Everything considered, we behaved correctly. The ice is 
too thick to melt at the first rays of the sun." 

The Paris press at this time, too, recurred extensively 
to the many previous testimonials of sympathy shown 
by the Kaiser for France. They pointed out Ger- 
many's fair dealing in all colonial questions touching 
French interests. They spoke of the guarantee fur- 
nished by the Kaiser that the coming great exposition 
would see Germany splendidly represented, an example 
which other nations would be sure to follow. And they 
also began to discuss the problem whether the Kaiser 
would visit the exposition personally. The number of 
French papers advocating a neighborly understanding 
with Germany increased steadily. Several of them 
even went the length of proposing an alliance with the 
late foe, at least so far as common interests in colonial 
and far Asiatic questions were concerned. Even in- 
fluential Russian journals expressed satisfaction at 
this Franco - German rapprochement, and stated that 
Czar Nicholas had repeatedly given expression to his 
joy at the growing friendliness between the two coun- 
tries. 

On August 1 8, 1899, Emperor William was present 
at the dedication of the monument erected on the 
battle-field of St. Privat in honor of the ist Prussian 
Foot Guards, and made a speech on this occasion, in 
which occurred the following significant passage: 

50 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

*' . . . The form chosen for this monument differs from 
that usually seen on battle-fields. The armor-clad 
angeP reclines, peacefully resting on his sword, em- 
bellished with the proud motto of the regiment: Sem- 
per talis. It is, therefore, my will that this figure be 
interpreted in a symbolical way. The figure stands 
on this blood-soaked field like unto a guardian and 
sentinel for all the fearless soldiers of both armies who 
fell here, both on the French side and on the German. 
For the French soldiers, too, fighting here bravely and 
heroically for their emperor and their country, sank 
into a glorious grave. When our flags will bow in 
salute before the bronze statue and mournfully rustle 
over the graves of our dear comrades, they will at the 
same time wave over the last resting-places of our ad- 
versaries, whispering to them that we think of their 
courageous dead with melancholy respect. ..." 

It was to be expected that this address, magnani- 
mous in its spirit towards a proud but vanquished foe, 
should be received with sympathy in France, and the 
Russian press, too, commented on it with approval. 

The year 1900 saw France and Germany fight to- 
gether in China, under the chief command of a German 
field-marshal, and jointly with the other powers. 

At the beginning of 1901 Count Miinster retired, be- 
cause of increasing feebleness of age, from his post as 
German ambassador in Paris. Prince Radolin was his 
successor, and on March 2d President Loubet formally 
received him. In submitting his credentials, the new 
ambassador said, among other things: 

"My sovereign has intrusted to me the task, in charging me 
with this high mission, of maintaining and still further im- 

' St. Michael, the traditional guardian and patron of Germany. 
—Ed. 

51 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

proving those good relations now existing in the happiest 
manner between the two countries. I beg Monsieur le Presi- 
dent to beHeve me when I say that my most earnest efforts 
will be directed towards this goal, and that I shall feel a lively 
satisfaction in fulfilling a task which so entirely accords with 
my personal sentiments, in making myself the frank and faith- 
ful interpreter of the good intentions of my august sovereign." 

To this President Loubet replied in a similar vein, 
assuring the ambassador that "our aims and inten- 
tions correspond with those of the Emperor." 

In May of the same year two distinguished French 
officers, General Bonnal and his aide-de-camp, came to 
Berlin, following an invitation extended to them by the 
Kaiser during the Russian manoeuvres. The Kaiser 
showed his French guests marked attention. At his 
invitation they witnessed the brigade drills held an- 
nually in memory of his late father. Emperor Frederick, 
occurring on May 29th. Afterwards the two French- 
men attended a luncheon given them by the 2d Foot 
Guards, at their barracks. The Kaiser spoke on this 
occasion as follows : 

''Fill your glasses, gentlemen! I am happy to in- 
form you that peace has been concluded in the far 
East, and that the troops may be withdrawn. Among 
the many acknowledgments and thanks which I have 
received, there is one which the Czar of Russia' sent 
me personally to-day, and which says : ' For services in 
China I render hearty thanks to your Majesty. Count 
Waldersee has conducted a difficult and thankless mis- 
sion with dignity and skill. I testify my fullest sym- 
pathy.' 

*'The brigade has been specially honored to-day in 
being able to welcome two officers of the French army 
in its midst. This is the first time, just as it was the 
first time that French and German troops have fought 

52 



THE KAISER AND FRANCE 

shoulder to shoulder against a common foe, as good 
and faithful brothers-in-arms and comrades. Gentle- 
men, these two officers and the army to which they be- 
long — Hurrah! Hurrah! Hurrah!" 

Whereupon General Bonnal, in French, and in a very 
cordial and polite way, thanked the Kaiser for all his 
courtesies, for being permitted to witness that memo- 
rable brigade drill, and for the many pleasant atten- 
tions shown him by the German officers. He concluded 
his remarks by poising his glass in air and shouting, 
*' Gentlemen, I give you the German army and its sol- 
dier-emperor — may they both live and prosper!" 

Lately, too, several distinguished French persons of 
both sexes have been guests of the Kaiser and his 
spouse. On their return they have described in the 
Paris press their conversations with that monarch, 
their experiences and observations in Germany. A 
number of French artists have exhibited with great 
success in Germany. French opera and theatrical com- 
panies have played in Berlin and other German cities, 
and German companies in Paris. Even Sarah Bern- 
hardt came and played with her company, and the 
Kaiser treated her with distinction. 

After the eruption of Mont Pelee, and the incidental 
catastrophe in Martinique, last May, there was another 
interchange of telegrams between the Kaiser and Presi- 
dent Loubet, and these were couched in very cordial 
terms. The Kaiser also sent a large sum for the relief 
of the Martinique sufferers. 

Thus it came about that the visit which President 
Loubet made in St. Petersburg last year, the loudly 
proclaimed assurances of friendship between France 
and Russia, and the subsequent renewal of the Dual 
Alliance in formal terms, which was made in July, 1902, 
and simultaneouly published, came and went without 

53 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

creating any sensation in the political world. Far 
from being any longer regarded as federations of pro- 
nouncedly aggressive tendency, both the Triple and 
the Dual Alhance are now deemed the chief guarantees 
for the maintenance of peace and pleasant relations on 
the continent of Europe. In Germany, where at first 
the close entente and subsequently the formal alliance 
between France and Russia had been viewed as a con- 
dition fraught with menace, the belief has now gained 
a firm footing that it means, on the contrary, an ar- 
rangement admirably preserving the political and mil- 
itary equilibrium, and is, therefore, calculated to sub- 
serve Germany's own best interests. 

Thus, so far as the Kaiser's official acts and utter- 
ances go, there is not the slightest doubt that he has 
striven honestly, ever since he ascended the throne, to 
effect a gradual reconciliation with France. And it 
must be confessed that his ways and methods in this, 
theatrical as some of them may strike us, have in the 
main suited their purpose. 

It is stated, however, in the entourage of the Kaiser, 
that his private opinion of the French is far from flat- 
tering to Gallic self-love. While still plain Prince 
William, and with no expectations of attaining to the 
throne for many years to come, it is said that he once 
taunted, at a court dinner, the then French ambassador 
to Berlin, Count Gontaut-Biron, in a semi-jocular man- 
ner, with Voltaire's sarcastic characterization of his 
own countrymen, "half tiger, half monkey." And it 
is further reported of him that he it was who induced 
old Field-marshal von Wrangell to play that horrid 
joke on the same French ambassador — viz., mounting, 
unknown to the occupants, a new weather-vane on the 
roof of the embassy building, which bore the shape of 
one of those dreaded Prussian uhlans, with lance thrust 
out. 

54 



Ill 

THE KAISER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

Clear recognition of the necessity of re-establishing religious 
harmony in the empire — Interesting letters to Cardinal Ho- 
henlohe — His first interview with the Pope — Patriotic ad- 
dresses to new German Catholic Church dignitaries — Corre- 
spondence with the Roman Pontiff — Second meeting with 
Leo XIII. — Gift of the Dormition in Palestine to the Ger- 
man Catholics — The Kaiser's mention at Aix-la-Chapelle of 
a papal utterance regarding himself. 

In his throne speech, on opening the Prussian Diet, 
twelve days after his accession, the Kaiser, in his capac- 
ity as King of Prussia, dwelt with particular emphasis 
upon his earnest desire to maintain good relations with 
his Catholic subjects^ and with the whole Catholic 
hierarchy — in particular, too, with the Roman Pontiff. 
He had promised to protect Catholics in the untram- 
melled exercise of their religious practices. To do this 
was, indeed, a matter of the utmost concern to him, as 
the Culturkampf^ — that bitter struggle between the 
Prussian authority of the state and the Catholic priest- 
hood, from the lowest vicar to the sovereign head of 
the Church in Rome — had waged fiercely for over a 
decade, Bismarck having vainly spent even his in- 
domitable energy in trying to score final victory. The 
state had been utterly vanquished and routed, and as 



' The Catholic population of 
Prussia numbers, according to 
the last official census of igoo, 



over 12,000,000, out of a total of 
34,000,000, therefore slightly ex- 
ceeding one-third. — Ed. 

55 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

residuum had been left an embittered sentiment spread 
throughout the Catholic population of Prussia, and in a 
minor degree of Bavaria as well. To regain the affec- 
tion and the full loyalty of his Catholic subjects be- 
came, therefore, from his accession, one of the chief 
and most persistent and unbending efforts of Emperor 
William, and to this policy of reconciliation he has, in- 
deed, adhered with a steadfastness which in a man of 
his impulsive nature seems all the more surprising. 

Even while still plain Prince William, he had felt the 
overweening importance of this task of reconquering 
the love and confidence of his future Catholic subjects, 
and had taken pains to become personally acquainted 
"with most of the leaders of Catholic thought in Ger- 
many. Thus he had come to know not only the par- 
liamentary champions of the Catholic cause — in other 
words, the spokesmen of the Centre, or Ultramontane, 
party in Reichstag and Diet, but also the princes of the 
Church in Germany. With Cardinal Prince Hohen- 
lohe^ in Rome, a man of undoubted patriotism and 
head of the Germanophile party at the Vatican, the 
young prince was on particularly good terms. In 
January, 1887, seventeen months before Prince Will- 
iam, in quick succession, had seen both his grand- 
father and father sink into the grave, he wrote a letter 
to Cardinal Hohenlohe, in which he mentions that he 
had recently had occasion to meet and gain the friend- 
ship of some of the best and shrewdest men belonging 
to the Catholic clergy in Germany. He speaks of con- 
versations had with them, and then continues: 

"There is, above all, Kopp.^ What a simple, 
shrewd, naively German nature! I wish with all my 



' A cousin of that Hohenlohe 
whom the Kaiser made imperial 
chancellor in the fall of 1894. — Ed. 



^ This prelate is now Prince 
Bishop of Breslau and a cardinal. 



-Ed. 



56 



THE KAISER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

heart that this man may be left us for many years, 
and that we shall have many like him. The same 
remark applies to Dr. Thiel, the bishop in East Prussia, 
and to the Bishop of Metz, who, though speaking 
French, said to me: 'Je suis et resterai un eveque 
allemand.' . . . All these are men who have fathomed 
their time and who have a wide horizon. May they 
soon gain a paramount influence upon their flocks. 
But the Centre! — the Centre! If the Pope doesn't 
soon gird up his tunic and begin to talk in earnest to 
the Centre, then — " 

In another letter, of April i, 1887, the young prince, 
then twenty-eight years of age, writes to the same 
personage : 

''Galimberti has pleased everybody here (in Berlin), 
and what he said, too, has made a good impression. 
I am immeasurably glad that this baleful Cultur- 
kampf is at last over. The other day some of our 
prominent Catholics, among them Kopp and others, 
came to me and honored me with their full confidence, 
which I felt as a real blessing. Several times, too, I was 
able to act as interpreter of their wishes and to do them 
some slight favors, thus giving me a chance to em- 
ploy my insignificant strength and gifts in behalf of 
restoring peace between the two parts of the popula- 
tion. This gave me veritable joy, and I feel happy. 
My greetings to Galimberti, and my devotion to the 
Pope." 

The task which William, while still uncrowned, thus 
began to set himself, was, however, not only dictated 
by a desire for harmony in Prussia itself, but weighty 
motives of international policy entered into it. The 
Roman Curia showed leanings towards the federation 

57 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

between Russia and France, then in process of forma- 
tion, and at that time the special hete noire of German 
state-craft. In lieu of the Papacy's strained relations 
with Russia, which had subsisted for so many years 
because of the Polish and other questions, it was very 
evident that quite amicable relations were slowly be- 
ing substituted. And instead of longer favoring all or 
any of the pretenders to the French throne, the Vati- 
can showed growing favor to the republic. If the Pope 
really should become the third ally, beside France and 
Russia, it was plain that Germany would have to 
suffer. For as long as harmonious internal relations 
with her Catholic population had not been re-establish- 
ed, Germany would have the enemy, so to speak, in her 
own camp. 

The Kaiser, therefore, did not allow the grass to 
grow under his feet after his accession, but undertook, 
in October, 1888, a journey to Rome, not alone to 
visit his ally, King Humbert of Italy, but also the 
head of the Catholic Church. 

He paid all honor to Leo XIII. at the Vatican, and 
during a long and intimate conversation knew how to 
impress his Holiness with his earnest wish to re-estab- 
lish once more close and friendly relations between 
the temporal and the spiritual power. Subsequent 
events showed that in so doing he had vitally pro- 
moted the object in view. 

After a luncheon served at the house of the Prus- 
sian minister to the Vatican, Baron von Schlozer, at 
which Cardinals Rampolla and Prince Hohenlohe par- 
ticipated, the Kaiser drove to the Vatican, accom- 
panied by his brother — Prince Henry — Count Herbert 
Bismarck, and all the more important members of 
his large suite. After a long interview with the Pope, 
at which nobody else was present. Prince Henry, too, 
was received by the Pontiff in privacy. 

58 



THE KAISER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

The Centre press in Germany represented this visit 
as an insult to the Pope, inasmuch as the Kaiser had, 
immediately after his visit to the Vatican, referred 
in his toast at the banquet given him by the King at 
the Quirinal to the latter's "royal capital city." By 
doing this, it was contended by the Irredentist Centre 
press, "more papal than the Pope himself," the Kaiser 
had sanctioned the "land robbery perpetrated by the 
Savoyan dynasty upon the Pontiff." However, even 
in the non-Catholic and anti-Catholic circles of Ger- 
many, much dissatisfaction was expressed at this 
friendly meeting between Kaiser and Pope. 

On November 7, 1888, the Kaiser published a decree 
in answer to the address of loyalty by the German 
Catholic bishops on August 29th. In this and in the 
separate personal letters of thanks to the archbishop 
of Cologne and others, he again spoke in a very con- 
ciliatory mood. In February, 1889, the newly ap- 
pointed Bishop Assmann acknowledged publicly in 
his encyclical his and the Pope's gratification at the 
newly evinced spirit of good-will shown by the Kaiser 
and the temporal authorities. 

In a letter to Pope Leo XIII., dated March 8, 1890, 
the Kaiser apprises him of the impending interna- 
tional congress, summoned by the Kaiser, for the 
amelioration of the working-people's lot, and in flat- 
tering terms bespeaks the sympathy and co - opera- 
tion of his Holiness for the enterprise. 

The Pope replied in cordial terms of approval and 
encouragement, and pleasantly acknowledged the high 
compliment paid him by the Kaiser's appointment of 
Cardinal Prince Bishop Kopp, of Breslau, as the im- 
perial delegate to the congress. 

The Centre party, too, gradually shaped its policy 
— for years almost frankly Ultramontane and un- 
patriotic—to meet altered conditions. The personal 

59 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

visit the Kaiser paid to the sick-bed of Windthorst, the 
Centre's ablest leader, won him many adherents in 
that party. And on Windthorst's death, soon after, 
he showed again great consideration. To the funeral, 
and to the solemn requiem mass in the church of St. 
Hedwiga, in Berlin, the Kaiser sent special representa- 
tives. 

In November, 1891, the new archbishop of the 
Polish provinces in Prussia, Florian S table vski, was 
inducted into his see. This dignitary had publicly 
spoken in a way to convince the Kaiser of his loyalty 
to the crown, and had been proposed to the Roman 
Curia for the important post. When Stable vski, on Jan- 
uary 12, 1892, personally took the oath of allegiance to 
the Emperor at the royal castle in Berlin, the Kaiser 
expressed the utmost confidence in his fairness and the 
purity of his intentions.* 

On the occasion of Leo XIII. 's fiftieth anniversary 
as bishop, the Kaiser sent General von Loe, a leading 
personage in German Catholic circles, as his special 
legate, handing the Pontiff a costly and artistically 
embellished mitre as an imperial gift. 

But a few weeks later, on April 23d, the Kaiser paid 
a second visit to the Pope. This time he was accom- 
panied by the Empress, and the meeting was a much 
more intimate and cordial one than in 1888. This 
time, too, the Kaiser had a one-hour's conversation 
after everybody else had gone. The papal Secretary 
of State, Rampolla, received from the Kaiser the high- 
est Prussian decoration, the order of the Black Eagle. 

On September 3, 1893, the Kaiser, during the 



'The preceding archbishop, 
Cardinal von Ledochowski, had 
been thrown into jail, during the 
Culturkampf , and had been sum- 
moned, after his final liberation, 



to Rome, where he played a very 
important part until his death, in 
shaping the papal policy and in 
exerting an an ti- German influence 
in the Cardinals' College. — Ed. 



60 



THE KAISER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

autumnal army manoeuvres, came to Metz, where 
Bishop Fleck addressed the monarch at some length, 
saying, among other things: "May your Majesty not 
judge us by the reports spread in hostile journals, but 
rather by our actions. Our efforts are directed tow- 
ards the preservation of a religious spirit and of 
morality, and against those subversive teachings which 
threaten society's very existence. . . . Thus we hope 
to make ourselves useful to the German Empire, ac- 
cording to the measure of our strength, and to find 
your Majesty's approval." 

The Kaiser thereupon replied in a very gratified 
manner, incidentally mentioning the substance of his 
last earnest conversation with the Pope — viz., the great 
need of fostering the religious and devout spirit, and 
that it had given him sincere joy to see that in this 
matter, one of greatest moment in this age of unbelief 
and scepticism, his own views tallied so completely 
with those of his Holiness. 

Prince Henry of Prussia, the Kaiser's brother, was 
received by the Pope on March 7, 1894. On April i6th 
following, the Reichstag passed a resolution rescinding 
the order of expulsion aimed at the Jesuits during the 
heat of the Culturkampf , and thereby added another 
item to the re-establishment of religious harmony in 
the empire. The Bundesrath, however, subsequently 
rejected this resolution, although Bavaria on her own 
account greatly modified the stringency of the original 
order. 

At the death of another noted leader of the Centre, 
von Schorlemer-Alst, on March 18, 1895, the Kaiser 
sent a carefully phrased telegram of condolence. On 
May 19, 1897, the Kaiser inspected, in the Rhine coun- 
try, the famous Benedictine abbey of Maria Laach, 
which had been restored largely at his own expense. 
The abbot, Dr. Benzler, in an address rendered thanks. 

61 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

The next year, 1898, during the Palestine journey 
undertaken by the imperial couple, the Kaiser showed 
a number of attentions to the German Catholics, the 
Roman Curia, and the Pope. 

When he and his consort landed at Haifa, in Palestine, 
on October 26th, he replied to an address by Father 
Biever, the director of the German Catholic settlement 
there, assuring him and German Catholics everywhere 
of his protection and good- will. 

The Sultan of Turkey had made a personal gift to 
the Kaiser of that piece of land in Jerusalem known to 
tradition as La Dormition de la Sainte Vierge, and on 
which, according to a Catholic legend, the Holy Virgin 
dwelt. This gift, with sufficient funds added from his 
own purse to erect thereon suitable buildings, the Kai- 
ser, on his arrival in Jerusalem, turned over to the Ger- 
man Catholic Society of the Holy Land. He sent the 
Pope a telegram informing him of this fact, and the 
Pope replied in an appreciative vein. He also wired to 
the same effect to the president of the aforementioned 
society in Aix-la-Chapelle, Jansen. 

A few days later, on October 31, 1898 (after the ded- 
ication of the new Protestant Church of the Saviour), 
the Kaiser personally inaugurated the taking possession 
of the Dormition by the Latin patriarch of Jerusalem, 
and in the presence of Catholic clergy and a detach- 
ment of German marines from the iron-clad cruiser 
Hertha, who hoisted the German and the imperial flags 
over it. 

This whole incident and its attendant circum- 
stances greatly pleased the Catholic population of 
Germany, and made a vivid and lasting impression on 
them. 

The imperial couple paid, likewise, a visit to the new 
German Catholic Hospice in Jerusalem, where they 
were received by its director, Father Schmidt, and 

62 



THE KAISER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

which was Hberally endowed by them. In answering 
the welcoming speech by the director, the Kaiser also 
referred to the mission on which he had just then sent 
his brother Henry, saying: "My brother is now away 
with the iron-clad power of my ships,* whose flag here 
waves protectingly over your heads, to shield your 
brethren who, in the far East, are risking their life- 
blood for their Saviour." 

When, on October 23, 1899, the newly elected arch- 
bishop of Cologne, Simar, took the solemn oath of alle- 
giance to his temporal sovereign, at Berlin Castle, the 
Kaiser, in an impressive speech, admonished him to do 
his share towards educating the growing generation in 
his archdiocese to be good subjects as well as Chris- 
tians. 

On Pope Leo's ninetieth birthday — March 2, 1900 — 
there was another pleasant interchange of despatches 
between Kaiser and Pope. 

The German Catholic mission in China has enjoyed 
the consistent protection and encouragement of the 
Kaiser. Its chief. Bishop Anzer, on the several oc- 
casions of his visits to Berlin, was the guest of the 
monarch and his trusted counsellor in Chinese af- 
fairs. 

Shortly after the Kaiser's second visit to the abbey 
of Maria Laach, its abbot, Benzler, became bishop of 
Metz, and on October 24, 1901, he swore allegiance to 
the Kaiser, the latter responding by according the bish- 
op high praise for his patriotism and expressing entire 
confidence in him. He dwelt at some length upon the 
fact that the bishop was going to a field of activity 
where those qualities which he had learned to admire 
in him would be of particular importance, and that he, 
the Kaiser, was very glad that his own choice for in- 

' In China.— Ed. 

63 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

cumbent of this see had at last been approved and con- 
firmed by Rome.* 

On December 3, 1901, the Kaiser received the oath 
of allegiance of the new titulary bishop of Strassburg, 
Zorn von Bulach, belonging to one of the most distin- 
guished and ancient noble families of Alsace. In re- 
plying to the new church dignitary's address, the Kaiser 
said : 

*' Those assurances of loyalty, and those wishes for 
the welfare of my house, as well as your past in the ser- 
vice of state and church, permit me to indulge the hope 
that you will regard it as your duty to foster harmony 
in the diocese of Strassburg, so far as in you lies, and 
to strengthen the spirit of respect for me and the love 
of the German fatherland. In doing so you will follow 
the example of your ancestors, who in the time of the 
old empire held faithfully to emperor and country in 
good and evil days." 

When, on May 22, 1902, the Kaiser, during a brief 
sojourn in Metz, visited the cathedral there. Bishop 
Benzler addressed him at some length. He thanked 
him for liberal gifts, and for promoting the restoration 
of this ancient pile, one of the finest types of early 
Gothic, and asked for God's blessing upon the head of 
the monarch. The Kaiser replied pleasantly. 

In Aix-la-Chapelle, which venerable town the Kaiser 
visited on June 19, 1902, he inspected the cathedral, 
likewise renovated and restored largely through his 
efforts. The prelate. Dr. Bellerheim, rendered public 



* The filling of the vacant 
bishoprics of Metz and Strass- 
burg had, after the death of the 
former incumbents, been matter 
of bitter contention for several 
years between the Kaiser and 

64 



the Roman Curia. In the latter, 
under the influence of the 
Francophile party, with Car- 
dinal Rampolla at its head, the 
Kaiser's candidates had at first 
been rejected. — Ed. 



THE KAISER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

thanks to the Emperor, and pointed out the incessant 
activity of the sovereign in aiding and encouraging 
the preservation of CathoHc houses of worship, and in 
fostering among the whole population the spirit of 
reverence for and of devotion to Christian observances 
and practices. 

The Kaiser, in his answer, expressed his joy at hav- 
ing been able to take up the aims of his father and 
grandfather in restoring and finishing work on a church 
which had been built, in its earliest portions, by Charle- 
magne. Then he concluded: 

*' Through the centuries a trait distinguishes the man 
of Germanic blood — his love and admiration for nature, 
a sentiment implanted by the Creator as one of our 
most cherished heirlooms. This sentiment Germans 
have extended towards their houses of worship, and the 
architectural type thus evolved is something which no 
German can do without. For the sovereign it becomes 
a sacred duty to protect this sentiment. ..." 

On the same day Emperor William delivered a 
speech, in reply to welcoming words from Chief Mayor 
Veltmann, which created some sensation, especially in 
Catholic circles at home and abroad. The most vital 
passages in it were the following: 

'\ . . Aix-la-Chapelle is the cradle of German im- 
perialism. Here the great Charles placed his imperial 
chair, and this ancient town received a portion of his 
reflected glory. But imposing and great as was the 
figure of this powerful Germanic ruler, it received new 
splendor by being offered from Rome the dignity of 
the old Roman Csesars. He it was who inherited the 
imperium romanum. Surely this was a magnificent ac- 
knowledgment of the capacities inherent in the Ger- 
5 65 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

manic race, only recently arisen in history. For the 
sceptre had been wrested from the hands of the Caesars 
and their successors, and the Roman imperium shook, 
rotten to the core. It was the appearance of the glad- 
somely victorious Teutons, with their moral intactness, 
which pointed new paths to the world's history, the 
paths in which it is still treading. . . . 

'' But what had been possible to the mighty person- 
ality of Charlemagne, proved in the long run impossible 
for those who came after him. Keeping their eyes too 
much on the world-empire, succeeding dynasties of Ger- 
man emperors lost sight of the needs of their own 
German land and people. They and their hosts went 
south to maintain the world-empire, and forgot their 
own Germany. . . . 

'* But now another empire has grown up. The Ger- 
man people have again their Kaiser. They have 
chosen him, sword in hand, on the battle-field, and 
there, too, they have found the imperial crown. The 
imperial banner again waves high in the air. . . . But 
the aims and purposes of the new empire are differ- 
ent ones. Satisfied with our new frontiers, we prepare 
ourselves at home for those great tasks which now de- 
volve on us, and which during the Middle Ages we were 
unable to fulfil. And thus we see that the new empire, 
though young, gains internal strength year after year, 
while confidence in it is felt everywhere more and more 
strongly. And the mighty German army vouchsafes 
peace to Europe. This is in accord with Germanic 
character. We limit ourselves so far as outward power 
is concerned, in order to have unlimited power at home, 
within our own frontiers. Far away our language 
exerts influence across the seas. Far, too, fly German 
science and research, and there is no work done in any 
sphere of modern research which we may not read, 
too, in our tongue, and no thought springs from science 

66 



THE KAISER AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH 

which we, first of all, do not utilize and fructify, in 
order that other nations may adopt it subsequently. 
This is the world-empire which the German mind as- 
pires to. 

** But if we wish to fulfil wholly the great tasks come 
to us, we must not forget that the primal soil on which 
this empire has arisen has its root in the simplicity, the 
God-fearing piety, and the high moral conceptions of 
our ancestors. God's hand lay heavy upon our coun- 
try at the commencement of the last century, and the 
arm of Providence has mightily wrought the iron in 
the furnace of misery until the weapon was ready for 
use. And, therefore, I expect from you all, whether 
clergy or laymen, to preserve religion within the people. 
Jointly we must toil to keep intact for* the Germanic 
race its healthy strength, its moral foundations. And 
that may only be done by maintaining religion, a re- 
mark which applies to both forms of worship.^ The 
greater, therefore, is my joy in communicating news to 
the gentlemen of the Church I see here present, news 
which I am proud to be able to tell you. Right here, 
gentlemen, stands General von Loe, a faithful servant 
of his King. I sent him to Rome, to bear my gifts and 
congratulations to the Holy Father, and when he, in 
confidential conversation, gave information to the Pon- 
tiff as to the state of affairs in our German lands, the 
Holy Father answered him, saying he was glad to tes- 
tify to the fact that he had always thought highly of 
the piety of the Germans, especially of the German 
army. And, he added, he could say more than that, 
and he commissioned him to tell me that the one land 
in Europe where order and discipline ruled, where 
respect for the authorities, devotion to the Church, 
prevailed, and where every Catholic was free to live 

• The Kaiser here refers, of course, to the Protestant and Cath- 
olic faiths.— Ed*. 

67 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

according to the tenets of his faith, was the German 
Empire, and for that he had to thank the German Em- 
peror. 

" That, gentlemen, gives me the right to say that our 
two faiths, Catholic and Protestant, must keep the one 
common aim in view: to fortify and foster the fear of 
God and the veneration for religion. . . . Whoever does 
not put his life on the broad rock of religion is lost. ..." 

The speech, recent as it was, must be taken as a sort 
of programme which the Kaiser means to follow more 
or less consistently, and it cannot be interpreted any 
other way than revealing a species of pact and general 
understanding concluded between him and the Pope, 
so far, at least, as the difference in creed allows that. 
That, however, the Kaiser, while holding such strict 
views as to religion and its profession, is not narrow- 
minded, must be gathered from the fact that he has 
several times during the past year sought the conversa- 
tion and the teachings of Professor Delitzsch, the most 
noted German Assyriologist and the most dreaded op- 
ponent of the dogma of the divine origin of the Old 
Testament. In doing which, it is interesting to note, 
he has found the outspoken disapprobation not only of 
the Catholic clergy and the orthodox wing of German 
Protestant theology, but even of the Jewish rabbis all 
over the empire. 



IV 

THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

Pro-labor promises on his accession — Legislation in favor of 
ameliorating the condition of the German working-classes 
— The Kaiser as mediator during a great coal strike — Ger- 
man anti-accident exhibition — Congress at Berlin convened 
by the Kaiser to devise means for the betterment of the 
laborer's lot — Imperial warnings against socialistic influ- 
ences — His harsh description of the German socialists — 
Why the Kaiser lost interest in further pro-labor legislation. 

One of the chief items in the Kaiser's outlined policy 
at the beginning of his reign was the amelioration of 
the lot of the laboring classes in the empire. In Ger- 
many more than elsewhere there was, and is, room for 
improvement in this respect, for toil means for the 
masses longer hours and scanter pay than in either 
England or the United States, poorer fare and harder 
taxation, the crushing burden of compulsory military 
service, and a decidedly lower estimation in the public 
eye, and harsher treatment as well on the part of the 
higher classes and of the government than obtain in 
the two countries named. It may be presumed that 
the Kaiser had a conception of these facts, and that at 
the outset of his career as a ruler he had firmly made up 
his mind to do what lay in his power to bring about 
betterment for the perspiring, hard-driven millions of 
German working-men. The subjoined passage in the 
speech from the throne, delivered on the opening of 
the Reichstag, October 22, 1888, but four months after 
he attained to the throne, bears this out: 

69 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

*'As a cherished legacy from my grandfather, now 
resting in God, the task has descended to me to con- 
tinue the socio-poHtical legislation inaugurated by him. 
I do not indulge the fallacy that the stress of the period 
and human misery are to be obHterated by legislative 
measures. But yet I deem it one of the duties and 
prerogatives of the state to aim at the rehef of existing 
economic distress, and to enforce acknowledgment of 
the duty of neighborly love, grown out of the soil of 
Christianity, by organic state institutions. This duty, 
indeed, must be assumed by the whole state organism. 
The difficulties interposing themselves between a real- 
ization of plans looking to insurance of all working-peo- 
ple against the burdens of old age and inability to work, 
and made compulsory by the authority of government, 
are great, but, I trust, with God's help, not insurmount- 
able. As the fruit of extensive preliminary labors in 
behalf of this project, a bill will be presented to you 
which proposes a practicable way towards the attain- 
ment of this end." 

On November i6, 1888, the Kaiser received del- 
egations in Breslau of the Protestant and Cath- 
olic labor societies, and made answer to their ad- 
dress : 

'\ . . The working-man's welfare lies close to my 
heart. . . . Breslau' s laboring classes have been the 
first to recognize that and to give expression to their 
loyalty to me and my house. I feel convinced that 
they will in the future likewise show their faith in me 
on all occasions. I hope and desire that the example 
given by the working-men of Silesia's capital will be 
imitated by the laboring population in every part of 
the monarchy, and that they all will stand by my house 
in similar unanimity. ..." 

70 



THfi KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASHES 

On April 30, 1889, the German General Exposition 
for the Prevention of Accidents was inaugurated in 
Berlin, under the protectorate of the Kaiser. At its 
opening the Kaiser spoke as follows: 

"With joy I welcome this evidence of efforts to se- 
cure to the industrial toiler a greater measure of safety 
from the dangers incidental to his calling, and which 
have increased of late, to improve the economic con- 
ditions of the laboring classes by organic measures, 
and to lend expression in our public and legal in- 
stitutions to the thought of practical love for our 
neighbor. 

*' The generations living and to come will never forget 
that it was the merit of my grandfather, now resting in 
God, to have brought it home to general consciousness 
how important are these endeavors for the common 
welfare. 

''With a conviction of their urgency and justice, I 
have approached those social problems, the solution of 
which still awaits us. In this I count upon the intelli- 
gent co-operation of all classes of the population, but 
more especially upon that of the working-men, whose 
welfare is at stake in these matters, and that of the 
employers, who in their own interest are ready and 
willing to make the sacrifices resulting therefrom. 

"This exposition, too, is a fruit of these endeavors. 
It demonstrates how far until the present the provi- 
sions of the law have taken visible shape in practice^.! life. 
The pains taken to bring about this exposition and the 
law I referred to will, I trust to God, not remain with- 
out a blessing. To all those who have aided us in this 
task I render thanks and acknowledgment. May the 
exposition help us to bring home to all interested 
what may be done to protect the working-man and to 
promote his interests." 

71 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

A few days later a general strike of all the miners 
broke out in the coal-mining districts of the Ruhr, in 
Westphalia. This strike threatened to paralyze traffic 
and industry, especially as the miners in all the other 
Prussian coal-mines prepared to join in the strike. To 
adjust and, if possible, terminate the quarrel between 
employers and employes, the Kaiser received a delega- 
tion from each party, one after the other. On May 14, 
1889, he made answer to the delegation from the miners 
as follows: 

'' Every subject, if he has to prefer a wish or ask a 
favor, has, as a matter of course, the ear of the Em- 
peror. This I have shown by permitting the delega- 
tion to come here and to present their desires in person. 
You have, however, done wrong, for your movement is 
an unlawful one, if for no other reason at least be- 
cause you have not given a fortnight's notice, only at 
the expiration of which you would have been entitled 
by law to stop work. You are, therefore, guilty of a 
breach of contract. It needs no pointing out that this 
breach of contract has injured and excited the employ- 
ers. Again, workmen who did not want to strike have 
been prevented, forcibly or by threats, to continue 
work. Furthermore, some strikers have used violence 
in meeting the authorities, and have destroyed private 
property, while others have even gone so far as, in 
some cases, to resist forcibly the military which had 
been summoned to protect property. Finally, you 
declare that you will resume work only when all your 
demands have been accepted in all mines affected. As 
regards your demands, I shall have these thoroughly 
examined by my government, and shall let you know 
in time the result through the official channels. But 
if riots or other derelictions against public order and 
peace should occur, and if this movement of yours 

72 



THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

should be foiind to be instigated by social-democratic 
agitation, then in that case I would not be able to 
consider your wishes with my royal good-will. For 
to me every Social Democrat is nothing better than 
the enemy of the empire and of his country. If I 
should notice, therefore, that social-democratic tenden- 
cies are mingling with this movement, and spur you on 
to unlawful resistance, I should intervene with the ut- 
most severity, and I should use the full power in my 
hands — and it is, as you know, an extensive one — in 
meeting force with force. Now return home. Consid- 
er well what I have told you, and try to influence your 
comrades, so that they will return to reason and order. 
Above all, you must not prevent, under any circum- 
stances, those of your comrades who wish to work from 
resuming work." 

And to the delegation sent by the coal-mine owners 
and operators in the Ruhr district, he said, two days 
later, after listening to their complaints: 

''Gentlemen, I have granted you this audience, be- 
cause it is the bounden duty of the monarch, in cases 
where his subjects have fallen to quarrelling and need a 
mediator, that he should hear both parties, provided 
they have come to him with confidence. I have heard 
the working-men, and I am glad to see you here to-day. 
As to the cause of the differences and the means to end 
them, I am still waiting for detailed reports from my 
officials. My main object is, now that a second strike 
in Silesia, transplanted there from Westphalia, is on 
the point of breaking out, and in view of the far- 
reaching injury done by the strike to the nation as a 
whole, to put an end to this strike. You know what I 
told the miners. In my words to them I have sharply 
defined my view-point. These miners, though, made a 

73 . 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

good impression on me. They have avoided contact 
with the Social Democrats. That my words to them 
have found appreciation in laboring circles in West- 
phalia is proven to me by telegrams I have received 
from there. It has gratified me that they have re- 
jected attempts on the part of the Social Democrats to 
interfere. The negotiations which you, Herr Ham- 
macher, as chairman of your organization, have con- 
ducted with the miners' delegation, I have had re- 
ported to me by the Minister of the Interior, and I must 
express to you my appreciation of the good-will shown 
by you in meeting the views of the working-men. Thus 
you have secured a basis for final understanding. I 
shall, indeed, rejoice if employers and employes should 
find an adjustment on this basis. From my own view- 
point I will, however, emphasize another thing : if you, 
gentlemen, hold the opinion that the miners' delega- 
tion I have heard do not represent the dominating 
circles among the strikers, I will say that that does 
not matter. Even if they should have but a portion 
of the working-men behind them, and expressed only 
the views held in their own ranks, the moral effect of an 
attempt at reconciliation would nevertheless be great. 
But if they have, indeed, been the delegates of the 
miners and have represented the views held by the 
w^hole mass of Westphalian miners, and if they are 
satisfied with the terms you have offered them, I have 
sufficient confidence in their common-sense and patri- 
otism to believe that they will make the attempt, and 
probably with success, to induce their comrades to re- 
turn to work. 

' ' And right here I should like to say to all those con- 
cerned that it will be very useful in future if the mine- 
owners and their officials will try and keep in close 
touch with the miners, so that a similar movement 
does not escape them again. This strike certainly did 

74 



THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

not come suddenly, not without preparation. . , . 
I would like to ask you to take care that the miners 
have always an opportunity to formulate their wishes, 
and always to keep this present in your minds, that 
those companies or single owners of mines and other 
large concerns . who employ a considerable portion 
of my subjects thereby assume the duty towards the 
state and towards the communities in which they live 
to take care of the welfare of their toilers to the best 
of their ability, and, above all, to avoid such a con- 
dition of affairs again, by which the inhabitants of a 
whole province are involved in difficulties. 

*' You must remember that, humanely speaking, it is 
but natural that everybody tries to improve his con- 
dition and his earnings. The working-men read news- 
papers, and they know the proportion of their wages 
to the revenues of the companies. That they wish to 
have their proper share in the total earnings of each 
concern is not to be wondered at. I would like to ask 
you, gentlemen, to examine in each case the condition 
of their affairs with the most minute and conscientious 
care, and thus to prevent for the future such a calamity 
as the present one. I would most earnestly recom- 
mend to you, gentlemen, to try and bring to a success- 
ful and mutually satisfactory issue the negotiations 
which your chairman began yesterday. I regard it as 
my royal duty to vouchsafe to both employers and em- 
ployes my assistance in settling such difficulties as this 
one, in proportion as they and each of them are earnest- 
ly anxious to promote the interests of their fellow- 
citizens by fostering harmony among themselves and 
by avoiding such industrial shocks as these." 

The working-men of Germany, on their part, some 
time after the above events, testified to their gratitude 
for the Kaiser's efforts in their behalf by a demonstra- 

75 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

tion on December 8th of the same year. The Kaiser 
visited the ancient city of Worms, in the Rhine coun- 
try, and a delegation of the local working-men hand- 
ed him an address and a wreath. The Kaiser said to 
them: 

''I gladly accept this address and wreath as tokens 
of your affection and devotion. I am aware that the 
working - men of Worms have always distinguished 
themselves by their patriotism and fidelity. I trust 
that they will continue to withstand the temptations 
and approaches made to them, and that they will 
steadfastly adhere to their loyal sentiments." 

In the succeeding year, 1890, a number of more than 
usually important measures, inaugurated at the in- 
stance and with the co-operation of the Kaiser, and in- 
tended for the improvement of the lot of the German 
laboring classes, became public. As a preliminary 
step the Reichsanzeiger published, on February 8th, the 
subjoined decree: 

"To THE Imperial Chancellor 

"I am resolved to assist, so far as the limitations 
drawn by the necessity of keeping German industry 
in condition to compete with the world's markets 
permit me, in meliorating the condition of the German 
working-man. Serious losses, of course, of our home 
industries by reason of a decrease in our exports would 
not only injure the employers, but would also deprive 
their employes of the means of existence. The diffi- 
culties created by international competition when try- 
ing to improve the condition of our laboring classes can 
only be partially overcome by international agreement 
among those countries most interested in the world's 
markets. In the conviction, therefore, that other 

76 



THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

governments as well are animated by the desire to 
examine jointly those efforts made even now by the 
laboring classes of these different countries, I direct 
that my representatives in France, England, Belgium, 
and Sv/itzerland make official inquiry whether these 
governments are inclined to associate themselves with 
us for the purpose of an international agreement as to 
the possibility of meeting those desires and require- 
ments of the laboring classes which have been enunci- 
ated by them on the occasion of strikes during the last 
few years. As soon as adhesion, in principle j to my 
proposal shall have been made, I shall instruct you to 
invite the cabinets of all those governments taking a 
common interest in the labor question to a conference 
as to the main points entering into this question. 

"William." 

In simultaneously published decrees to the Prussian 
Ministers of Commerce and Industry and of Public 
Works, the Kaiser defined the chief objects he had in 
view in such a conference. He said that it was the 
task of the state to regulate the time, duration, and 
manner of labor in such a way as to subserve the 
preservation of health, the dictates of morality, the 
economic requirements of the laboring classes, and of 
their claims to common legal rights and protection; 
also to frame laws looking to the maintenance of 
peaceful relations between employer and employe, 
by providing for adequate representation of the la- 
borers in the regulation of joint matters of interest 
in dealing with their employers and with the organs 
of government. By the latter institution the laborer 
was to be given a regular opportunity to express his 
needs and complaints, and the state authorities would 
thereby rernain in constant touch with the working- 
classes. The mines belonging to the Prussian fiscus 

77 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

he wanted to be made model enterprises, subject to 
similar restrictions as those imposed on the Prussian 
factories by the law of 1869. 

He also summoned the Prussian council of state to 
deliberate, under his, the Kaiser's, own presidency, and 
with the assistance of technical experts, on the pre- 
liminaries. 

On February 14, 1890, but a few days after, the coun- 
cil of state did convene at the royal castle in Berlin. 
The Kaiser opened this special session with an address, 
in which he said: 

" . . .The task for the solution of which I have bidden 
you here, demands your best efforts and your ripest 
judgment. The protection to be vouchsafed the work- 
ing-man against an unlimited and arbitrary exploita- 
tion of his strength for labor ; the amount of restricting 
child-labor in conformity with the behests of humanity 
and of the natural laws of increase ; the attention to be 
paid to the status of wives, in social, moral, and eco- 
nomic regards, in the household of working-men, so in- 
calculably important in the family life of the nation; 
and a number of therewith connecting conditions ob- 
taining in our laboring classes — all these matters are 
susceptible of improved regulation. In considering 
these problems, however, great care must be taken to 
ascertain, with the aid of technical expert opinion, just 
in how far our industry will be able to bear such greater 
cost of production as will be necessitated by the en- 
joinment of stricter provisions in favor of the laborer, 
without endangering, while competing with the world's 
markets, the remunerative occupation of the laborer 
himself. By going beyond proper limits, injury, in- 
stead of benefit, to the economic conditions of our la- 
boring classes would be wrought. . . . The happy solu- 
tion of these questions, dominant in our era, is closely 

78 



THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

connected as well with the international agreement 
projected by me." 

After summing up once more, substantially as out- 
lined in the aforementioned decree to his Ministers of 
Commerce and Public Works, the main desiderata in his 
mind, the Kaiser says that he is quite aware that all 
these efforts by the state in behalf of the toiling masses 
will not be able to remove from their serried ranks a 
certain amount of penury, hardship, and distress, and 
that, as hitherto, Christian charity and benevolence, 
and the beneficent aid of school and church, cannot be 
dispensed with. The speech winds up with detailed 
instructions to the council of state and to the various 
committees regarding the share of labor devolving on 
each. 

A few days later the Kaiser said to Herr von Eynern, 
a leading parliamentarian in those days : 

''Whether gratitude or ingratitude will be our por- 
tion in trying to improve the condition of our laboring 
classes, at all events I am resolved to persevere in my 
efforts. I cherish the conviction that this care and 
protection by the state must end in reconciling the 
laboring classes with their position within our social 
fabric. And, anyhow, these endeavors will procure me 
a quiet conscience." 

Cardinal Manning, of England, considered in those 
days an authority in practical social politics, wrote at 
about this time to a friend: 

"... You want my opinion about the conference on the labor 
question, and on the condition of those millions living in each 
country of Europe off their earnings as wage-workers, which 
the German Emperor is about to convene. I hold this imperial 
act the wisest and most dignified emanating from a sovereign 

79 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

of our time. The condition in which the wage-workers of all 
the European countries find themselves is a grave danger to 
every European government. The long hours of toil, woman 
and child labor, insufficient earnings, aggravated by insecurity 
of employment, keen competition nursed by modern economy, 
and the destruction of family life due to these and other 
causes, have about rendered it impossible for them to lead a 
life worthy of a human being. How can a man working fif- 
teen to sixteen hours every day be a father to his children? 
How can a woman who is away from home the whole day fulfil 
the duties of a mother? Domestic life is thus made an im- 
possibility. And yet it is upon family life that the whole 
fabric of human society rests. If the foundation be injured, 
what is to become of the structure ? Kaiser William, therefore, 
has proved a true and far-sighted statesman." 

One of the technical experts summoned by the Kaiser 
to assist the council of state by their knowledge and 
advice, a master locksmith from Magdeburg, named 
Deppe, subsequently published his impressions. The 
extracts of special interest taken from his statement 
are these: 

"For three days, from lo a.m. until 6.30 p.m., I was present 
at these sessions, with the Kaiser presiding. The Kaiser was 
the most indefatigable chairman. He opened the sessions, 
adjourned and closed them, gave permission to speak or spoke 
himself, and several times wound a speaker up short, if the 
latter drifted off to alien topics. First and last in his seat, he 
followed the deliberations with closest attention. But during 
the luncheon intermission, during which the Minister of the 
Interior made us his guests, in a perfectly informal way and at 
a row of tables, wherever one felt like sitting down, this duty- 
engrossed monarch became the most approachable one. Why, 
one forgot that he was the German Emperor, seeing him 
mingle and talking freely and unaffectedly with every one that 
happened to be near him, now inquiring and again imparting 
information, or discussing, on a footing of perfect equality, 
various points that had come up." 

This special session of the council of state was closed 
on February 28, 1890, and the Kaiser took leave of the 
members in this way : 

80 



THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

" Gentlemen, I trust you will oppose the view, which 
somehow has obtained a foothold among the public, 
that we have met here to discover a panacea for the 
cure of all the social ills and defects. We have earnest- 
ly striven to find remedies for some evils, and to de- 
termine the limits beyond which we may not go in 
devising measures for the protection of labor. I hope 
that some good will spring from your counsels." 

On March 15th, a fortnight later, the international 
congress for the protection of labor was solemnly 
opened in the palace of the Imperial Chancellor. The 
Prussian Minister for Commerce, von Berlepsch, wel- 
comed the delegates in the name of the Kaiser. 

In his speech from the throne, on May 6th follow- 
ing, the Kaiser said to the Reichstag, among other 
things : 

"... The strikes which broke out in various parts of 
the empire in the course of the past year induced me to 
examine closely the question whether existing legisla- 
tion sufficiently meets those just and reasonable de- 
mands on the part of labor which seem realizable in the 
present state of our political order. Above all, whether 
compulsory Sunday rest, and that limitation of child 
and woman labor which reasons of humanity and the 
natural laws of increase seem to call for, cannot be 
enforced. The allied governments have become con- 
vinced that the propositions in this respect emanating 
from the last session of the Reichstag may become law 
without infringement of other legitimate interests. But 
we have found that a number of additional existing 
provisions require amendment and improvement. This 
is especially the case with the laws bearing on the safety 
of labor from dangers to life, health, and morality, and 
those regulating the hours of labor. ... A bill will reach 
6 81 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

you shortly which contains modifications of the present 
labor laws, in consonance with the views elucidated. 

" Another bill aims at the better regulation of labor- 
arbitration courts, and at their reorganization in such 
a way as to enable us to call upon them in cases of dif- 
ferences of opinion between employer and employe as 
to the conditions of continuing or resuming work, and 
to act as peace-makers between the parties. 

"I have full confidence in your willingness to co- 
operate in these matters. . . . The more our laboring 
classes come to recognize the conscientious earnest- 
ness with which the empire seeks to meliorate their lot, 
the more, too, they will become aware of the dangers 
springing out of attempts to realize unmeasured and 
unrealizable demands. In just and adequate protec- 
tion to the laboring classes I see the most effective 
method of strengthening those forces whose province 
it is to oppose with unbending energy all attempts to 
shake by violence the existing order of things. 

"... Our industry forms but a link in the chain of 
economic toil done by those nations that principally 
participate in competition upon the world's mar- 
kets. . . . The results of the international congress 
which met here fill me with special gratification. Its 
resolutions form the expression of common views upon 
the most important domain of the civilizing mission 
of our time. The principles embodied in them will, I 
do not doubt, act as a seed which, with God's help, 
will sprout and bear blessings for the benefit of all 
other countries, besides bringing forth fruit in har- 
monizing the relations of the various nations with one 
another." 

To a delegation, seven hundred strong, of workmen 
and mechanics employed in the Krupp works in Essen, 
the Kaiser made a speech on the occasion of a visit he 

82 



THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

paid that giant establishment on June 20, 1890. He 
paid a tribute to the enterprise of the firm, and 
thanked the delegation for having "remained on the 
right road," meaning thereby their avoidance of so- 
cialistic agitation and methods. 

At a banquet on September 13, 1890, given at the 
royal castle in Breslau, the Kaiser said : 

"... With great joy I have noticed that it is again 
this province * which, first of all, has been trying to re- 
alize my aims regarding the increased welfare of the 
laboring classes. In praiseworthy manner Church and 
laymen join hands here to raise the standard of living 
among the lower classes. Men like Prince Pless and 
the Cardinal Bishops furnish a good example, and that 
example has not remained without its due effect. . . . 

" Here let me say that I hope our citizens will at 
last rouse themselves from their long slumber, and to 
leave warfare against the destructive elements of our 
population no longer exclusively to the state and its 
organs, but to take a hand in the fight themselves. I 
am convinced that if this province persists in its 
present methods it will succeed in restoring, not only 
within its own confines but within the whole country, 
reverence for the Church, respect for the law, and 
unquestioning obedience towards the crown and mon- 
arch." 

In the speech from the throne by the Kaiser, on De- 
cember 8, 1894, at the opening of another Reichstag 
session, he spoke in general terms of the government's 
duty of protecting the weaker classes of society, and 
to aid them in attaining to more comfortable circum- 
stances in life. " The duty to make for this goal with 
all possible energy becomes the more binding," he said, 

» Of Silesia.— Ed. * Kopp.— Ed. 

83 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

"the more strenuous and difficult becomes the strug- 
gle for existence with each single element in the na- 
tion." 

Next he touched with emphatic words on the sup- 
posed necessity for ''opposing more effectively the 
virulent machinations of those who would hinder the 
power of the state in the fulfilment of its duties. Ex- 
perience has shown that existing legislation does not 
lend itself sufficiently to the purpose." He announced, 
therefore, the preparation of a bill intended to check 
further Socialist advance, for this he hinted at with his 
words quoted above. This bill, though, and several 
subsequent bills introduced both in the Reichstag and 
in the Diet, and all aiming, in one shape or another, at 
the curtailment of Socialist power in politics and social 
life, failed to pass. 

There came a day, in 1898, when the Kaiser, em- 
bittered beyond reason and stirred to the depth of his 
nature, spoke in another speech from the throne of the 
Socialist party in Germany, whose voting strength had 
meanwhile grown to far over two millions, and had 
come to comprise at least one-fourth of the whole na- 
tion, as " a horde of men unworthy to bear the name of 
Germans." 

On August 3, 1900, the Kaiser distributed, while on 
a visit to Bremerhaven, whither he had gone to bid 
God-speed to a departing vessel bearing a contingent 
of German troops to the punitive expedition in China, 
some fifteen medals of honor to 'longshoremen and 
mechanics of the North German Lloyd and of the 
Hamburg- American lines. He accompanied this act 
with words of praise for these men who, he said, had 
remained loyally at their post, and with burning words 
of indignation directed against those of their comrades 
in Hamburg, whom he stigmatized as ''having been 
inveigled by traitorous agitators" and who had taken 

84 



THE KAISER AND THE LABORING CLASSES 

advantage of the rush and pressure to demand higher 
wages. " Base is he who leaves his fatherland in the 
lurch in moments of danger," he exclaimed on this 
occasion. 

It will have been observed that the Kaiser's en- 
thusiasm in behalf of the improvement of the German 
laboring-man's hard lot was rather short-lived. Al- 
together it lasted but two years. Then its fire was 
spent. After 1890 the investigator searches in vain 
among his public or private enunciations for expres- 
sions of good -will towards the laboring classes and 
of plans to confer further benefits upon them in the 
shape of " labor - friendly " legislation. On the con- 
trary, there are a number of his speeches, made since 
1890, in evidence in which he uses rather harsh terms 
as applied to these very classes. The honorary title 
of Rot Gueux (King of the Poor), which Jules Simon 
affixed to his name in one of his articles, will fit Will- 
iam II. no longer. The two men who were, during the 
first years of his reign, his favorite instruments and 
inspirers of his policy of weening away Germany's 
toiling masses from the Socialist banner by offering 
them a greater measure of comforts — viz., the then 
Prussian Minister of Commerce, von Berlepsch, and 
the under-secretary in the Imperial Department of the 
Interior, von Rottenburg,* were both retired by him 
long ago. All pro-labor legislation has been shelved 
since 1890, though it has been demonstrated again 
and again in the Reichstag that the existing labor 
laws and the laws providing for old age and invalid 
pensions for the working classes by no means suffi- 
ciently fulfil their mission. 

' Berlepsch was curtly dis- 
missed, though he still privately 
labors in behalf of his ideals; 
Rottenburg (who is married, by- 
the-way, to a daughter of the 



late American ambassador, W. 
W. Phelps) was given the quiet 
though honorary post as curator 
of the University of Bonn, which 
he still holds. — Ed. 



85 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

The cause of all this, especially the cause of the 
Kaiser's so completely losing interest in all measures 
designed to benefit the laboring classes as such, may 
doubtless be found, wholly or in part, in the fact that 
the Kaiser's youthful dreams of killing socialism by 
kindness were destined to failure, just as Bismarck had 
predicted when the young monarch had outlined to him 
his programme of state benefits and moral suasion. It 
is matter of contemporaneous history that the Ger- 
man Socialist party, instead of dwindling and melting 
away under the kindly rays of the imperial sun, grew 
steadily and enormously in numbers during the fifteen 
years of the present Kaiser's reign, becoming numer- 
ically by far the largest in the empire, and exerting an 
amount of influence upon broad strata of the popula- 
tion which was never equalled before. It is expected 
that this coming summer, when the delegates to an- 
other quinquennial session of the Reichstag will be 
elected by general franchise, the number of Socialist 
voters will show, despite all the methods of govern- 
ment repression and manipulation, another consider- 
able increase. 



V 

THE KAISER AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 

Promoting the spirit of loyalty in the annexed provinces— The 
beneficial influence of his frequent visits there— Speeches to 
delegations— His chateau near Courcelles, and his neighborly 
relations with the people. 

The influence which the Kaiser has exerted on the 
population of Alsace and Lorraine, winning them over 
to the German side and away from their old-time pre- 
dilections for France, forms, no doubt, one of the most 
striking illustrations of his abiUties as a ruler and 
statesman, and one of the most flattering evidences of 
his personal magnetism. 

In the beginning of his reign the bulk of the inhab- 
itants of the two annexed provinces, and the older gen- 
eration almost to a man, were, to use a term which 
hardly expresses the facts, disaffected. The evidence 
of that was palpable. It cropped out in the Reichs- 
tag, where the delegates from these provinces at regu- 
lar 'intervals ''protested" against the actual state of 
things, and took no pains to conceal their French sym- 
pathies. It appeared conrinually in the press of Alsace 
and Lorraine, where, despite the strict censorship, alle- 
giance to France was preached in veiled terms. It 
came out in ceaseless complaints to the new German 
authorities, and in frequent letters to the Paris press. 
And it was asserted on the French side and reluctantly 
admitted on the part of German visitors and inves- 
tigators. 

87 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

With the advent of the Kaiser in the Reichslande, 
however, conditions rapidly changed. The Kaiser 
skilfully employed every means to win the confidence 
and respect of the people of these provinces, polit- 
ically rather conservative and fond of miHtary dash 
and pageant, and next their affection. His most ef- 
fective measures were probably these: he purchased 
a large estate near Courcelles, Lorraine, enlarged and 
beautified it, and then made a point of residing there 
with his family every summer, for a shorter or longer 
term, entertaining all the while pleasant and neigh- 
borly relations with the rural population in the vicinity ; 
he encouraged in various ways the industries and the 
agriculture of the provinces, bringing them to a higher 
degree of material prosperity than they ever enjoyed 
during the two centuries of French rule; he ''spoke 
them fair," and treated their spokesmen and repre- 
sentatives on all occasions with indulgence and sym- 
pathy; lastly, he made frequent visits and gave the 
people several times a spectacle they traditionally 
crave — i. e., splendid military parades and manoeuvres 
on a large scale. 

In the foregoing part of this book repeated reference 
has been made to events in Alsace-Lorraine during the 
Kaiser's reign. Some additional speeches, etc., by the 
Kaiser will, however, further bear out what is here 
claimed. 

After several preliminary trips undertaken by the 
Kaiser to these provinces, he received, on March 14, 
1 89 1, a delegation from the joint provincial chamber 
of deputies, who asked him to abolish the onerous and 
rigid regulations as to communication and traffic be- 
yond the frontier, regulations which took the form of 
compulsory passports. In his reply the Kaiser, in a 
pleasant and conciliatory manner, thanked the dele- 
gation for their assurances of loyalty and for the con- 

88 



THE KAISER AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 

fidence shown in him, expressing a hope that these 
sentiments would become general. Then he remarked : 

'* It is, indeed, painful to me, I assure you, to have to 
deny you this wish at present. I must confine myself 
for the moment to say that it looks as if in the near 
future I might be able to do what you ask, and to es- 
tablish easier and less formal modes of communication 
on our western frontier. This hope will be realized all 
the sooner the more the people of Alsace-Lorraine be- 
come convinced of the indissolubility of the bonds unit- 
ing them with Germany, and the more energetically 
they demonstrate the resolve to remain under all cir- 
cumstances faithful and true to me and to the empire." 

On the occasion of another imperial visit to the prov- 
inces, in the autumn of 1893, the Kaiser made a brief 
stay in Metz, where he was welcomed enthusiastically 
by the mayor. Halm, and by the population. In his 
verbal address he said, among other things : 

'' Metz and the army corps here are one of the corner 
pillars of Germany's military power, a power which I 
am firmly resolved to use in maintaining peace — peace 
with the whole of Europe. 

" Heartily I thank the city of Metz for the brilliant 
reception accorded me, and I beg that this may be 
made known to the inhabitants by official placards. 
My headquarters are, as you know, in Urville,* and 
that, I am glad to say, makes me also a Lorrainer, a 
man who owns landed property here and lives among 
you in neighborly fashion. As a token of my appre- 
ciation and confidence, I hand you, Mr. Mayor, here- 
with a golden neck -chain and locket, denoting your 

* Urville, the name of the Kaiser's estate near Courcelles. — Ed. 

89 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

important office, which the mayors of Metz may wear 
on festive occasions hereafter. ..." 

Next day, during the banquet given the Kaiser at 
the officers' casino in Metz, the Kaiser toasted his hosts 
as follows: 

''My toast to-day is for the Reichslande, and more 
especially for Lorraine. My warmest and most cordial 
thanks to the people of Lorraine for the truly friendly 
manner in which they have received me. Thunderous 
acclaim, jubilant faces greeted me here, and that, I am 
free to say, has gratified me immensely. I consider 
these ovations, this gladsome mood not alone of the 
people of Metz but also of the rural population, a proof 
that Lorraine feels satisfied with being a part of the 
empire. Before the eyes of the inhabitants here a pict- 
ure of German greatness, of German unity, is un- 
folded.^ You have the chief of the empire with you, and 
with him, united in sincere friendship and in strong 
compact, his relatives, cousins, sovereigns of German 
states. With lasting pleasure I see that Lorraine has 
gained an adequate conception of the greatness of the 
empire, and of its own high position within the empire. 
'We Lorrainers are loyal, conservative through and 
through, and strive to do our work in peace, to cultivate 
our fields, and to enjoy, without let or hinderance, the 
fruits of our labor,' were the words that greeted me at 
my reception in Courcelles. 

" Well, gentlemen, to enable you to do this, and to 
furnish you a proof that I am honestly anxious to 
study your wishes, I have made a home among you, 



' This has reference to the 
fact that on this occasion the big 
autumn army manoeuvres took 
place in the province, the Kaiser 

90 



being accompanied by a number 
of smaller German sovereigns, 
among them being the kings of 
Wurtemberg and of Saxony.— Ed. 



THE KAISER AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 

and I feel happy with my neighbors in Urville. Take 
this as evidence that you may undisturbedly pursue 
your callings, and go your ways without interference. 
United Germany safeguards your peace, and German 
you are now and will remain, with God's help and that 
of our trusty German sword." 

On September 9th, but a few days later, the Kaiser 
entered Strassburg in state, and was received by 
Mayor Back and a numerous civic delegation. He 
thanked them likewise for the warm reception given, 
and then continued: 

''If I were to consult alone my affection and ad- 
miration for your beautiful city, my stay here would 
be a longer one. How often, when still a youngster 
have I sung that old German ballad: 

*"0 Strassburg, O Strassburg, thou wondrously fair town!' 

and prayed to God that He would render back to Ger- 
many this wondrously fair town, for which I always 
have felt a strong sympathy. 

"This desire, I am happy to say, has since been 
realized, although it was not granted to me to help 
in bringing it about. I esteem Strassburg one of the 
best of our German cities, and I feel convinced that 
the Strassburgers, too, are glad of their reincorpora- 
tion with the German Empire. I felt that very plain- 
ly the last time I arrived here, quite unexpectedly. 
As I then rode back from the Polygon, and found the 
streets so beautifully decorated within the short time 
at the citizens' disposal, and heard the shouts of wel- 
come, I felt sincerely glad. Even if I cannot stay 
here longer this time, I hope to be able to return fre- 
quently, and to let you know in advance when I am 

91 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

coming. I like to be among you, and that is why 
I now have a shooting lodge near by. That will bring 
me here quite often, you may be sure. ..." 

On May 9, 1898, the Kaiser received a delegation of 
the communal council of Metz, headed by Councillor 
Cramer. After an address, in which the town thanked 
him for having the fortress walls and interior forts 
and bastions removed,* and thus doing away with an 
old and standing complaint of the population, dating 
even from the time of French possession, and in which 
loyalty to the empire was also expressed, the Kaiser 
made a reply. He said he was gratified at the ovations 
to his person on the part of the people of the city. The 
more so had this been the case, he added, because so 
many of the old citizens had had a share in the festive 
reception given him. He promised to continue to 
watch over the interests of Metz. 

At a banquet in the imperial palace of Strassburg, on 
September 5, 1899, at which a number of the leading 
men of both provinces were present, the Kaiser said: 

"... During the last ten years of my reign I have 
closely observed things here. With gratitude and 
deep feeling I can corroborate to the full that the in- 
creasingly cordial greeting accorded me whenever I 
come to the Reichslande, has been to me a faithful 
barometer whereby to gauge the evidence that the two 
annexed provinces have comprehended what they have 
gained by their incorporation with the empire. Where- 
ever we look — joyous faces, sedulous and remunerative 



' This was done because since 
its cession to Germany the 
fortifications of Metz have been 
modernized, a belt of impreg- 
nable forts having been con- 

92 



stnicted around the city proper, 
thus giving the rapidly growing 
town room to spread in every 
direction. Metz now is twice as 
large as it was in 1870. — Ed. 



THE KAISER AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 

toil, rapid development, and unmistakable progress. 
Well, gentlemen, I congratulate you on the prosper- 
ity of the Reichslande. I honor the sentiments of 
the older generations, who found it hard to accustom 
themselves to the new order of things. I am moved 
and gratified by the jubilant reception of the younger 
generation, which has grown up under the banner 
of the empire. ..." 

The Kaiser took special pains and went to con- 
siderable expense in restoring one of the finest and 
largest ancient castles in Alsace, the so-called Hoh- 
konigsburg, in the Middle Ages the seat of a leading 
noble family. He purchased the site and the dilapi- 
dated castle itself from the former o^vners, and present- 
ed them as a historical monument to the province, em- 
ploying an able architect in drawing up plans and 
specifications for its restoration. The Alsatian popula- 
tion was much pleased with this, and the provincial 
chamber appropriated funds to aid in the work. On 
March i, 1901, the Kaiser sent an appreciative tele- 
gram to the governor-general of the Reichslande, Prince 
Hohenlohe-Langenburg, an uncle of his wife's, thank- 
ing the chamber for its prompt recognition of his 
friendly intentions. 

Finally, last year, the Kaiser and the Reichstag both 
gave the culminating proof to the people of Alsace- 
Lorraine that Germany now had full confidence in 
their loyalty, in abolishing the last remnant of ex- 
ceptional and restrictive legislation up to that time 
still in force there. The Kaiser on that occasion 
spoke as follows to a delegation made up of several 
scores of the most prominent inhabitants of both 
provinces : 

''To have the 'dictatur paragraph' rescinded has 

93 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

been for many years the wish of the people of the 
Reichslande.* The wish, in fact, antedates my accession 
to the throne. That I did not grant this wish sooner 
was due to two causes. For one thing, I first had to win 
for myself the love and fidelity of my subjects as well 
as the thorough confidence of my colleagues, the allied 
sovereigns of the empire. And secondly, outside of 
Germany I found on my accession a deep and abiding, 
though unjustified, distrust of me, as the opinion pre- 
vailed there that I was yearning for the laurels of war- 
like successes. To meet this it was my task to con- 
vince foreign nations that the new German Emperor 
and the empire itself were earnestly striving to preserve 
and maintain peace. These tasks required time for 
their realization. The German people know by this 
time what paths I am, for their good, resolved to tread. 
Germany's sovereigns aid and assist me faithfully with 
counsel and by their acts. Foreign nations have now 
learned to count upon us as a rocklike guarantee of 
peace, instead of considering us, as at first, as inclined 
to threaten it. Now the empire has been consoli- 
dated in its internal affairs, and we have attained to 
a respected position in the estimation of foreign na- 
tions, and thus, at the dawn of the twentieth cen- 
tury, I deem the time ripe when I may fittingly give 
to the people of the Reichslande this earnest of my 
imperial friendship and confidence. To do so was 
all the easier for me, since during my reign the rela- 
tions between the people of these provinces and my- 
self have become steadily more intimate and cordial, 



^"Dictatur paragraph" was 
a provision in the administra- 
tive laws governing the two 
provinces which gave, under ex- 
ceptional circumstances, quasi 
dictatorial powers to the govern- 
or-general and his subordinate 



authorities, suspending for the 
time being the laws safeguarding 
in the remainder of the empire 
the liberties of the people, such 
as those relating to the press, ar- 
rests, court procedure, and other 
things. — Ed. 



94 



THE KAISER AND ALSACE-LORRAINE 

and the reception given me on my visits here have 
likewise grown more and more sympathetic. Once 
more, gentlemen, let me thank you for the loyal 
attitude of the Reichslande, a loyalty upon which I 
absolutely rely." 



VI 

THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

His repeated visits to England — Until the close of 1895 his pop- 
ularity in England unquestioned — The Kaiser and the Brit- 
ish navy — His toast at the Lord Mayor's banquet — Hinting 
at Anglo-German naval alliance — Congo incident leads to 
first criticism by the English press — The Kaiser's Krliger 
despatch and its consequences — His undiminished hospitali- 
ty to English guests — Continuance of English press hostility 
— Dynastic relations nevertheless consistently pleasant — 
Views of Cecil Rhodes and Sir Edwards Reed on the Kaiser 
— Honoring Lord Roberts — The Kaiser and the death of the 
Queen. 

The complete veering around in the feelings of one 
nation for another within the short space of a few years 
has seldom been illustrated more strikingly and inter- 
estingly than in the recent case of England and Ger- 
many. As to the underlying causes, accounts and ex- 
planations differ, though it may be taken for granted 
that the reason so often given as the sole one, at least 
in the initial stage, for this quick metamorphosis from 
sincere and old-time sympathy to outspoken antipa- 
thy — namely, the Kaiser's congratulatory telegram to 
"Oom" Krliger, after the repulse of the Jameson raid 
— was not the sole, nor even the leading one. The 
causes lie deeper. 

When William II. attained to the reign, iVnglo-Ger- 
man relations, especially those existing between the 
two dynasties, were very pleasant ones. A short time 
after the death of the old Emperor, when her son-in- 

96 



THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

law, Frederick III., had ascended the throne for his 
brief span. Queen Victoria, who had shunned Berlin 
during the long reign of William I., whom she had re- 
garded with rather a cold feeling, came there on a 
somewhat lengthy visit. Between her and Bismarck a 
meeting and a long conversation took place, and this 
gave rise to all sorts of political gossip and surmises. 
Nothing, however, has ever become public about the 
real topics at this interview, and Bismarck has even 
avoided mention of it in his Memoirs. 

In November, 1888, the Anglo-German agreement 
was ratified about the disturbances in East Africa, lead- 
ing to a joint blockade of all that portion of the East 
African coast belonging to the territories claimed by 
the Sultan of Zanzibar. 

In the following year the young Kaiser, followed 
by a German naval squadron, paid his respects at 
the Enghsh court. The interchange of civihties and 
speeches on that occasion has been mentioned else- 
where. 

Some months afterwards, while the Kaiser witnessed 
the wedding festivities of his sister Sophia in Athens, 
he paid a visit, on October 30, 1889, on board the 
British Lhips lying at anchor in the Pir^us. A 
toast by Admiral Hopkins was replied to by him as fol- 
lows: 

'' . . . It might be supposed that my interest in the 
British navy dates only from my appointment as Brit- 
ish admiral. But this is a mistake. From my eariiest 
youth on, even while I ran about the Portsmouth navy- 
yard as a small boy, I have felt a sincere interest in the 
British navy. My inspection to-day of your ships was 
a pleasure to me, and I congratulate you on their con- 
dition and looks. Nelson's famous motto is no longer 
needed. You all do your duty, and we, a young naval 
7 97 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

nation, go to England to study and learn from her 
navy." 

The imperial couple, in 1891, went to England to- 
gether, and this time it was not only the court they 
visited but the nation. On July loth they accepted 
an invitation from the Lord Mayor of London, and 
after having been very flatteringly welcomed, the Kai- 
ser said, at the Guildhall banquet, in answer to a toast : 

** « . . I have always felt at home in this charming 
country, as the grandson of a queen whose name will 
live forever as a noble character, and as a lady who is 
great through the wisdom of her counsels, and whose 
reign, moreover, has brought permanent blessings to 
England. Besides, the same blood flows in English 
and German veins. Following the example of my 
grandfather and of my never-to-be-forgotten father, I 
shall always, so far as in me lies, cherish the historic 
friendship between the two nations which often, as your 
lordship remarked, were seen fighting shoulder to shoul- 
der in defence of freedom and justice. I feel encour- 
aged in my task when I see that wise and able men, as 
I see them assembled here, do justice to the seriousness 
and honesty of my intentions. My aim, above all, is 
the preservation of peace; for peace alone can inspire 
us with the confidence required for the normal devel- 
opment of science, commerce, and art. Only so long 
as peace lasts can we devote ourselves earnestly and 
freely to the great problems whose solution in fairness 
and equity I regard as the most pressing need of our 
time. 

"You may, therefore, rest assured that I shall con- 
tinue to do my best to foster the good relations between 
Germany and the other nations, and that I shall always 
be found ready to join them in common effort for peace- 

98 



THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

ful progress, friendly intercourse, and the promotion of 
civilization." 

The next year the Kaiser was in England again, at- 
tending the Cowes regatta from July 30th till August 
9th. He participated in person in the yacht-race for 
the Queen's cup. 

On January 22, 1893, the Duke of Edinburgh paid a 
visit to the imperial couple in Berlin, and at the lunch- 
eon given in his honor at the castle, the German Em- 
peror spoke in a sensational way. He praised the Eng- 
lish navy as the unapproached model of other nations, 
and especially of the German, and then continued: 

"... Although the German navy is primarily intend- 
ed to safeguard and preserve us peace, yet I believe, 
if the time should come, it will do its full duty in 
battle. And if it should happen that the English and 
the German navies fight jointly against a common foe, 
the memorable watchword, ' England expects every 
man to do his duty,' which the greatest naval hero of 
England gave out before the battle of Trafalgar, will 
find an echo in the patriotic hearts of the German 
navy." 

When the news reached him of the total loss of 
H. M. S. Victoria, with Admiral Sir George Try on and 
four hundred seamen on board, the Kaiser sent a well- 
worded telegram of condolence to the First Lord of the 
Admiralty. '* As a sign of our sorrow I have ordered 
the British flag half-mast, side by side with our own, 
on board of my own ships," he wrote. 

On August I, 1893, Emperor William again partici- 
pated in the Cowes regatta, competing with his own 
yacht for the Queen's cup. Several friendly arrange- 
ments in defining accurately the relative ''interest 

LofC. 99 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

spheres" of England and Germany in West and East 
Africa were ratified during that year. 

The Queen appointed her imperial grandson honor- 
ary chief of the Royal Dragoons on February 24, 1894. 
When a delegation of this regiment came to Berlin, on 
June 7th, the Kaiser said : 

"... Another tie has been added to the many 
which for long years have existed between the British 
and the Prussian armies." 

He was again in Cowes on August 5th, following. 

At the opening of the Baltic Canal, relations between 
the two countries were still very pleasant. On June 
26, 1895, on board the British battle-ship Royal Sov- 
ereign, in Kiel harbor, in the midst of the festivities in- 
cident to the dedication of the interoceanic canal, the 
Kaiser made a speech, saying: 

" . . . As soon as the news reached me that the 
Channel fleet was to be sent here to the opening of the 
Kaiser William Canal, I wired the glad tidings to all 
my officers, and everywhere the news was received with 
joy. 

**. . . Since our own navy exists we have earnestly 
striven to form our ideas according to yours, and to 
learn in every way from you. The history of the Brit- 
ish navy is just as familiar to our officers and men as it 
is to you. You referred to my title as British admiral. 
I can assure you that it was one of the brightest days 
of my life, the day on which I inspected your Mediter- 
ranean fleet and saw my flag hoisted for the first time 
on board the Dreadnaught. . . . We are working as 
hard and fast as we can in our navy, and every man 
tries to do his duty, as Nelson remarked in his last 
speech." 

100 



THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

It was but a few weeks later, however, that the first 
disturbing elements crept into Anglo-German relations 
In August the Kaiser again visited England, to take 
part in the regattas, and on the nth made a call upon 
Lord Lonsdale. Just then the English press began to 
speak of the Kaiser in a tone which was very unpleas- 
antly felt in Germany. The English papers stated, 
in substance, that hitherto the Kaiser had behaved in 
a more or less friendly manner towards England, but 
that of late the relations between the two countries 
had perceptibly suffered, and that it was to be hoped 
the Kaiser would show a readier spirit where the in- 
terests of England were at stake. This outburst, al- 
most unanimous, was solely occasioned by the fact that 
Germany, in conjunction with other interested powers, 
had protested against a treaty which England was 
about to conclude with the Congo State, and by which, 
if it had gone through, not only Germany's but the 
interests of other powers in West Africa would have 
been seriously injured. From that time on, directly 
due to an incident of a trivial nature, dates the begin- 
ning of the mutual animosity which during the next 
succeeding years — in fact, ever since — has marked the 
unofficial relations of the two countries, assuming at 
times, indeed, the character of downright hostility, and 
threatening international peace. 

This is not the place to go into this subject at any 
length, and no attempt is made here to apportion lights 
and shadows evenly between the two nations in the 
matter. But one thing seems very clear : the Kaiser, for 
all his English blood and his undoubted English sym- 
pathies, never quite fathomed the English character, 
and more particularly the ticklish chapter of British 
susceptibilities. For if he had, it may be stated with 
absolute certainty, he would have penned neither the 
famous despatch to *'Oom Paul," nor done several 

lOI 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

other things which, while not in the sHghtest benefit- 
ing Germany and her tangible interests, were sure to 
arouse or to inflame anew British rancor and ill-will. 
That he, the man who valued English friendship far 
more highly than did any of his counsellors and min- 
isters in Germany, was the one who was personally 
responsible for several of the bitterest outbreaks of 
British spleen, shows conclusively, to any one willing 
to see patent facts, that these "slips" of his were 
owing, not to fell purpose, but to his deficient compre- 
hension of English sentiment. 

The events in South Africa in December, 1895, and 
later on, are still fresh in the public mind. On Decem- 
ber 24, 1895, the German consul in Pretoria had sent 
the first alarming news about doings in Johannesburg. 
On December 30th, the Germans resident in Pretoria 
asked the Kaiser's protection, and the German consul 
there requested that a detachment of German marines 
be sent from the German cruiser Seeadler, in Delagoa 
Bay, on to Pretoria. On New Year's Day, 1896, rep- 
resentations were made in London by the German 
ambassador, and on the same day the German con- 
sul in Pretoria cabled the news of the raid by Dr. 
Jameson and the troops of the Chartered Company. 
After the defeat of the raiders at Krugersdorp, on Jan- 
uary 3, 1896, the Kaiser cabled to President Kriiger: 

'*I congratulate you most heartily upon the fact 
that you have succeeded, without appealing to the aid 
of friendly powers, and solely relying upon your own 
people and energy, in overcoming the armed crowds 
which had entered your country as disturbers of the 
peace, and in restoring peace and the independence of 
your country as against attacks from without." 

This telegram, and more particularly the phrasing of 

102 



THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

it — the repeated use of the word '' your country," and 
the mention of its "independence" and of the "aid of 
friendly powers " — occasioned an indignation in Eng- 
land which, avalanche-like, gathered with the events 
of each new day more momentum and force. In Lon- 
don, anti- German manifestations took place, and Ger- 
man places of business were mobbed. The English 
press indulged in scoffs, gibes, caricatures, and an 
amount of plain speaking at the expense of the German 
Emperor which took both him and the German people 
by surprise, and which bred there an amount of wrath 
all the greater, as with the muzzled condition of the 
German press such terse and frank comment on the 
crowned head of a friendly nation is altogether un- 
known. The Kaiser himself, aware of the absolute 
freedom of the English press, paid apparently no heed 
to these attacks in printer's ink, and, while the English 
press was still daily ringing with bitter abuse of him, 
he received the British Institution of Naval Architects, 
who were on a visit to Germany, on May 27th, with 
perfect courtesy, and even so arranged things as to 
make their three weeks' stay as pleasant and profitable 
as possible. On June loth, during a session of the soci- 
ety as guests of the Technical High-School at Charlot- 
tenburg, near Berlin, he presided. On June 12th he in- 
vited them to a unique military spectacle in the park 
of the New Palace in Potsdam, brilliantly illuminated 
in their honor, and assisted again in person at it. 

All through 1897 the English press continued una- 
bated its campaign against Germany and her Kaiser, 
and the German press, which at first had been slow 
to respond, now almost equalled their foe in virulence 
and persistency. In June, on being interpellated in 
Parliament, Colonial Secretary Chamberlain admitted 
that better relations with Germany were desirable. 

However, the intimate and cordial relations between 

103 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

the two courts suffered not at all during this time, 
but the Kaiser in so far minded adverse public opinion 
in England as to discontinue his annual visits there. 

Nevertheless, on September 4, 1897, at a Sedan Day 
celebration in Hanover, upon Waterloo Square, the 
Kaiser rode into the centre of the enormous hollow 
square formed by the large body of troops, and de- 
livered himself of an address, in which he spoke in a 
very friendly and appreciative way of England. He 
said that, looking at the Waterloo memorial column 
in the middle of the square, he was reminded that at 
that great and decisive battle Germans and English 
had fought like heroes, side by side and as true com- 
panions-in-arms, and a few hours ago news had come 
to him of another great victory which the English 
army, contending against a far more numerous foe, 
had won in Africa. He ended by proposing cheers for 
the Queen. The victory here mentioned by the Kaiser 
was Kitchener's over the Mahdi. 

During 1898, however, and for some time after, a 
part of the English press began once more to lean 
towards the Kaiser and Germany. On February 12, 
1898, for example, the Saturday Review contained a 
long and appreciative article on the Kaiser, partic- 
ularly viewing him in the light of a husband, father, 
and private person, lauding the purity and the re- 
posefulness of his family life, and according him high 
praise for his tactful attitude at the Q^ieen's jubilee, 
and for his homely and thoroughly un affected hospi- 
tality, shown on various occasions to English sports- 
men at the Kiel regattas, and to other English guests. 

A short time after this, when Prince Henry, the 
Kaiser's brother, paid a visit to his grandmother, the 
Queen, similar press voices were lifted up in Eng- 
land, and even the radical Daily Chronicle said there 
was no reason to receive this prince as a foe, nor for 

104 



THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

English papers constantly to go out of their way to 
insult the Kaiser as if he were ripe for the insane 
asylum. Some of the passages in this article, which 
created at the time something of a sensation, said : 

"... Kaiser William will not easily forget the English vul- 
garities of which he has been the victim. . . . The Kaiser has 
accomplished great things. One of them was to weld Germany 
into the most compact and dirigible entity on the European 
continent. ... He has never suffered a serious defeat, and the 
German Empire has steadily progressed under him. Such is 
the restless, picturesque career of Kaiser William. . . ." 

During the Kaiser's Palestine trip, in 1898, the 
English press repeatedly commented in rather hostile 
fashion. But that did not hinder the Kaiser, on No- 
vember 15th, from sojourning, for a brief space, in 
Malta on his return voyage. 

But it was not until the next year, 1899, that the 
Kaiser resumed his former visits to England, although 
this time he did not touch London, and confined him- 
self strictly to a short stay with the Queen in Wind- 
sor, and relatively little comment appeared in the press 

about it. 

In April, 1899, he received Sir Cecil Rhodes, who had 
requested a hearing to submit to the German monarch 
a detailed statement of his great project, the Cape-to- 
Cairo telegraph line, which necessarily had to cross 
German territory in East Africa. Rhodes said about 
this interview : 

"At first there had been great coolness on the Kaiser's part, 
but the disagreeable feeling thus engendered in me soon yield- 
ed to genuine admiration when I noticed in this monarch keen 
interest in everything colonial, coupled with an amazing ac- 
quaintance with every cognate subject, even down to the 
minutest details. My audience of three-quarter of an hour's 
length was gone like a flash, especially as conversation did not 
lag for a second, and as the Kaiser developed in his questions 
diplomatic skill of the first order." 

105 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

Besides, Rhodes was full of appreciation of the 
Kaiser's amiability at the dinner given by Sir Franc 
Lascelles, the British ambassador in Berlin, saying 
that the contrast was striking — at the previous au- 
dience every inch an emperor, and at the dinner full 
of human kindness. 

Another journalistic contribution, likewise calculated 
to correct in the English mind erroneous and precon- 
ceived opinions regarding the Kaiser, was that by Sir 
Edwards Reed, the eminent English naval architect. 
From his long account may be quoted the following 
passages : 

"... What struck me most was the surprisingly accurate 
and detailed knowledge the Kaiser showed even as to minor 
points — points which escape the horizon of other responsible 
statesmen. ... It was most apparent to me in naval lore. 
When we touched a point which is indeed of the most far- 
reaching importance in naval warfare, I discovered to my un- 
bounded astonishment that the Kaiser's personal information 
on the topic was more extensive and more up-to-date than 
either my own or that of the secretary of his navy. And he 
had acquired this knowledge by actual and practical experi- 
ence. ... I very much doubt whether any one of our admirals 
is equally well informed about the minutest part of a ship's 
machinery or appurtenances. ... In any case, it is a fact that 
the raison d'etre for every piece and part of a modern vessel 
had to be fully demonstrated to the Kaiser before he would 
admit of its necessity, and his view was clearly that no im- 
provement should be omitted merely because of a prejudice or 
indifference. 

"There is no doubt that the Emperor William II. has recog- 
nized with singular lucidity the value of sea-power for an em- 
pire like his. . . . His motive in this striving for sea-power is 
quite simply this, that the German Empire has too many great 
and distantly located interests to enable it to retain its leading 
position without a reasonable expansion of its maritime forces ; 
still less can it indulge without them the colonial aspirations 
and the capacity for colonizing which the German people un- 
doubtedly possess. . . . He perceives, perhaps more clearly than 
anybody else, that great nations, at least those of Teutonic 

io6 



THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

stock, can no longer remain locked within their own narrow 
boundary-lines. For the protection of its rapidly expanding 
commerce beyond the seas the empire requires a strong navy, 
but I will admit the possibility that in enlarging his navy the 
Kaiser keeps an eye both on his neighbor to the east and to the 
west. As an Englishman, I confess that the sea expansion of 
any other nation but my own cannot be matter of indiffer- 
ence, for it threatens, in any case, a supremacy of which I am 
not a little proud. But as an Englishman, I also confess that 
the threatening of this supremacy proceeding from Germany 
is a perfectly legitimate and honorable one, such, in fact, that 
Great Britain may regard it in a quite friendly sense." 

The article then proceeds to discuss interestingly the 
two constitutional forms of government, as illustrated 
by Germany and England, and then comes to speak 
of the Kaiser's telegram to Kriiger. He says: 

"Telegrams like that of the Kaiser's are the work of a mo- 
ment, and they ought not to be placed in the same category 
with diplomatic or international negotiations." 

It was on October i6, 1900, that the Anglo-German 
agreement was ratified regarding the "open-door" 
principle in China. Its purpose was to hinder any 
European or Asiatic power, taking advantage of the 
momentary complications in China, to acquire new or 
extend old territorial rights there, and to keep the 
harbors and rivers of the huge empire open for the 
trade of the world. During the *' Boxer" rebellion and 
the subsequent troubles in China, leading to European 
and American armed intervention, British and German 
soldiers fought together and remained good comrades, 
English correspondents and officers not stinting their 
praise of German discipline and valor. 

The beginning of the year 1901 saw the death of 
Queen Victoria, and the Kaiser, shortly before her end, 
arrived at her bedside in Osborne on January 19th. He 
had hastened, immediately after receiving alarming 

107 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

news from England, from the northernmost end of 
Prussia, where the bicentenary of the foundation of 
the Prussian Kingdom had been celebrated with great 
eclat, to Berlin, and thence without loss of time to 
England. This fact, and his whole demeanor during 
and after the sad event, won him back, for a time at 
least, the hearts of the English nation. Even the 
bitter and consistent animosity shown by the German 
people to England during the entire duration of the 
Boer war has not materially changed this fact so far 
as the personality of the Kaiser is concerned. The 
Kaiser intensified this feeling by the great honors he 
showed, in the face of an adverse and unanimous 
public opinion in Germany, to Lord Roberts for able 
generalship exhibited during the Boer war. He issued 
an army order from Osborne, in which he said : 

''The death of my beloved, reverenced, and unforget- 
table grandmother, the Queen of Great Britain and 
Ireland, Empress of India, has overwhelmed me and 
my house with mourning. I know that my army 
shares the bitter loss which I have suffered. ..." 

On January 27th, King Edward appointed the Kaiser 
British field - marshal, whereupon the latter sent to 
Lord Salisbury, the British premier, a despatch, where- 
in he said : 

''The King, my august uncle, has conferred upon 
me the rank of field-marshal in his army, and has sent 
me news that this appointment is to become known 
on my birthday. I hasten to say to you that I value 
very highly this extraordinary proof of his Majesty's 
affection for my person. I rejoice at the thought that 
henceforth I shall belong to the highest officers in his 
Majesty's army." 

108 



THE KAISER AND ENGLAND 

And in a similar spirit he telegraphed to Lord 
Roberts, the chief commander against the Boers. 

After the obsequies of Queen Victoria, at which the 
Kaiser was greeted by the EngHsh pubhc with evident 
consideration and sympathy, a farewell dinner was 
given by the English royal family, at which King Ed- 
ward spoke warmly of the Kaiser. The latter replied : 

" Nothing has given me greater satisfaction than that 
it was permitted me to be present with my honored 
relatives here during the last moments of the great 
and noble life of my beloved grandmother, for whom 
I have cherished since my earliest youth sentiments 
of the sincerest affection and veneration. I thank his 
Majesty the King for having granted me the rank of a 
field-marshal in the British army. This honor enables 
me to wear the same uniform with the Duke of Well- 
ington and Lord Roberts, and it is precisely this 
compliment which will be appreciated the most keenly 
by my own army. I reciprocate most cordially those 
sincere sentiments which your Majesty entertains in 
regard to the relations between our two empires." 

To the Lord Mayor, too. Kaiser William said, in 
parting, some touching words regarding his feelings 
for the late Queen, and that the sad yet equally im- 
posing spectacle at the obsequies in London had made 
a very deep impression on him. 

At the dedication of St. Mary's Church, forming part 
of the ancient Marienburg, the centre of the order of 
St. John, in the province of West Prussia, the Kaiser 
sent an appreciative telegram to King Edward, thank- 
ing him for delegating to the ceremony distinguished 
British knights of the order, and full of interesting 
historical references to former Anglo -German co-op- 
eration within the order, especially during the time 

109 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

of the (English) King Henry IV., who had fought with 
the German knights against the then pagan aboriginal 
inhabitants of the Prussian province. 

At King Edward's coronation, on August 9, 1902, 
the Kaiser was ably represented by his brother, Prince 
Henry, and by the Princess Henry. 



VII 

THE KAISER AND THE UNITED STATES 

How his views regarding this country underwent a complete 
change by the Spanish- American War — His reply to the late 
Ambassador Phelps — His telegram at the Columbus cele- 
bration — Condoling with us on the loss of the Maine — The 
Coghlan incident — Interchange of telegrams between him 
and Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt — Prince Henry's 
visit — Presentation of a statue of Frederick the Great — 
Some interesting remarks by the Kaiser touching recent 
political and commercial development here. 

It is not to be supposed that so alert a mind as the 
Kaiser's would leave a big nation like ours, looming 
so portentously in the horizon, out of his reckoning. 
And, indeed, he has not done so. Like all political 
leaders of Europe who possess a clear and far vision, 
he, too, observed with growing interest, not unmixed 
with awe and apprehension, the marvellously rapid and 
yet steady and perfectly normal rise of this country as 
an eminent factor in the world's political and commer- 
cial expansion and progress. Even while still plain 
Prince WilHam, and having at the time no prospects of 
coming to the throne until mature in years, this country 
interested him mightily. But it was more the striking 
and picturesque contrast it afforded with European 
conditions, and with the hoary, old-world traditions, 
than for its own sake that it drew his attention. From 
twenty to thirty he diligently studied American life and 
ideals from books, the latter mostly selected or made 

III 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

accessible to him by his old-time instructor, Professor 
Hinzpeter. He was wont to say that he regretted ex- 
ceedingly that circumstances forbade him to undertake 
an extensive and instructive tour of the United States. 
If anything, this regret has become keener since his 
accession to the throne. 

He contemplated seriously several times making a 
'' study trip " to the United States. The first time was 
in 1893, when he earnestly desired visiting the Chicago 
Exposition, and afterwards making a circular tour 
through the country. The chief German commissioner 
for the exposition, Wermuth, after his return from a first 
preliminary visit to the fair grounds and to New York, 
in a long special audience with the Kaiser, encouraged 
the idea, and gave in detail all the reasons which in his 
judgment spoke for and also against such an enterprise. 
But the German ambassador in Washington sided 
against Wermuth' s views, and the idea was dropped. 
Again he reverted to the plan in 1902, but it was once 
more successfully represented to him that in this coun- 
try crowned heads could under no circumstances be so 
closely and securely protected against street abuse, mob 
insults, etc., and still less against hostile and perhaps 
scurrilous press comment, as is the case in European 
countries. The same reasons held good when, still 
more recently, the idea was broached to him to prom- 
ise a visit to the forthcoming St. Louis Exposition. 
But he at least overcame these objections in so far as 
to send his brother, Prince Henry, here a year ago. 

The Kaiser's views about this country were, despite 
the large number of serious and more or less truthful 
books he had read on America, nevertheless, rather 
crude and faulty in essential respects until and even 
after the outbreak of the war with Spain in 1898. Es- 
pecially had he been misled by his advisers and misin- 
formed by his diplomatic and military representatives 

112 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITED STATES 

abroad in the matter of the naval and miUtary readi- 
ness of this repubhc, of the warhke and ambitious spirit 
living in the masses of the American people. That 
war, however, opened his eyes. It brought within his 
ken a wealth of amazing facts to which his immediate 
entourage and the Conservative party in Prussia, both 
looking askance at the Kaiser's juster appreciation of 
the resources and latent power of this republic, had for 
years systematically tried to blind him. Since Dewey's 
dashing victory in Manila Bay, since the day of San- 
tiago and the utter annihilation of Cervera's fleet, 
William II. of Germany holds a largely modified opin- 
ion of these United States, and he is not likely to com- 
mit any more severe and far-reaching blunders in his 
estimate of this nation or in his dealings with us. The 
Venezuelan incident, at this hour still engrossing the 
attention and the jealousies of the American people, 
will be found, when the whole truth about the Kaiser's 
part in it will become known, to have been a matter in 
which he has been more sinned against than sinning. 
When the Kaiser came to the throne, in 1888, rela- 
tions between this country and Germany were excep- 
tionally pleasant ones. No cloud of any kind seemed 
to threaten them. And when, in September, 1889, a 
new American ambassador, Mr. William Walter Phelps, 
came to Berlin, and handed the Kaiser, on the 26th of 
that month, his credentials, these friendly relations 
were dwelt upon by the monarch in his reply to Mr. 
PhelpSo He said on that occasion : 

** I have sincerely rejoiced at the words with which 
you, Mr. Ambassador, introduced yourself here. I do 
not doubt for a moment that you will always be suc- 
cessful in your endeavors to perpetuate those century- 
old good relations which have existed unbrokenly be- 
tween your own country and my empire. 
8 113 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

*' From my boyhood up I have had great admiration 
for the powerfully progressing commonwealth which 
you are to represent here, and the study of your history 
in peace and war has always had a peculiar interest 
for me. Among the many remarkable characteristics 
which your countrymen can justly claim, it is especially 
their spirit of enterprise, of order, and their inventive- 
ness which have drawn upon them the attention of the 
world. The Germans feel attracted to the people of the 
United States all the more as they are intimately allied 
with the North Americans by the manifold ties which 
race affinity brings about. The predominant senti- 
ment of both nations is that of tried friendship and 
good- will, and the future will only strengthen the cord- 
iality of these relations." 

In 1892 the Kaiser — and the American press at that 
time was not slow to point it out — as the only one of 
Europe's monarchs, sent a congratulatory despatch to 
this country on the occasion of the Columbus celebra- 
tion, in October of that year, in Chicago. The message 
to President Cleveland ran as follows: 

"The German Emperor sends you, through the Ger- 
man charge d'affaires, his sincere congratulations on 
the quadri-centenary of the discovery of America, and 
unites with this expression his most cordial wishes for 
the continued development of the great country whose 
chief you are." 

When the Maine exploded in the harbor of Havana, 
on February 17, 1898, the Kaiser sent President McKin- 
ley the following cablegram : 

" Permit me to express to you and your country my 
sincere condolence on the terrible loss of the Maine, 

114 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITED STATES 

and on the death of so many valorous officers and men 
of your navy." 

The Maine disaster, as everybody remembers, was 
the direct cause of the war with Spain, and in its course 
several incidents happened, more particularly those 
in Manila Bay, in which the German admiral, Von 
Diederichs, played a conspicuous and unfortunate part, 
and the persistently unfriendly attitude of the German 
press, which were calculated to inflame American 
public opinion against Germany and her Kaiser. In 
fact, there was something like temporary estrange- 
ment noticeable between the two countries, so far, at 
least, as popular sentiment goes, although the official 
relations between Washington and Berlin remained 
throughout consistently friendly. It was in 1899 
when this somewhat hostile feeling led to the Coghlan 
incident. Captain Coghlan, U.S.N. , returning with 
several other officers from the Philippines, was given 
a banquet in New York, and towards its close related 
to his hosts his version of the transactions between 
Diederichs and Admiral Dewey, not forgetting the 
latter' s reply to some piece of impertinence, that, 
"as for the German ships and their flag, of which 
he could buy at any store any amount at half a dollar 
a yard, they should not hinder him in blockading the 
harbor. At all events, if Germany wanted war with 
America, they could have it any moment." And 
this Coghlan followed up by singing, at the Kaiser's 
expense, the well-known burlesque song, ''Me and 
God." 

Great indignation was felt at this in Germany when 
it became known there. On April 24th, Secretary of 
State Hay expressed to the German ambassador. Von 
Holleben, his regret and disapprobation at Captain 
Coghlan's conduct. And on April 26th, President 

115- 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

McKinley received the ambassador to add his own 
expression of censure of Coghlan's escapade to that 
previously given by Mr. Hay, asking the German 
diplomat at the same time to communicate to his 
imperial master and the imperial family assurances 
of his friendly regard. 

It is claimed that the Kaiser looked upon this in- 
sult offered him by an officer of a friendly power in a 
much more serious light than the matter was viewed 
here, and that it made him for the first time aware of 
the change which public sentiment in America had un- 
dergone as to his person. The incident led, at least in- 
directly, to the recall of Admiral von Diederichs, and, 
later on, to the resolve to send the Kaiser's brother. 
Prince Henry, here on a mission of friendship and 
good- will, a resolve carried out in 1902, with the best 
results. 

Before that, however, other evidences of the Kaiser's 
continued friendliness came to light. When President 
McKinley cabled the German Emperor, on July 5, 1900, 
his own and the American people's condolence on the 
assassination of Baron von Ketteler, the German 
minister in China, the Kaiser replied: 

"For the warm words of sympathy which your 
Excellency has been good enough to express relative 
to the murder of my representative in Peking, I render 
my most sincere thanks. I recognize in it the common 
pulse-beat of those interests which unite all civilized 
nations." 

In the same year, on September ist, the Kaiser 
telegraphed to President McKinley, on the occasion 
of the completed laying of the first cable establishing 
direct cable connection between the two countries and. 
built entirely with German capital: 

116 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITED STATES 

"At the initiation to-day of the new cable bringing 
Germany and the United States in closest telegraphic 
connection, I gladly seize the opportunity afforded to 
express to your Excellency my joy at the completion 
of this significant work of peace. I know I am of one 
with your Excellency in wishing and hoping that 
direct cable communication will contribute to the gen- 
eral welfare and to the maintenance and consolidation 
of friendly relations between the two countries." 

Only a few weeks later the Kaiser sent another 
cablegram to the President in which he gave utterance 
to his sympathy on the severe loss of life and property 
caused by the great cyclone in Texas. The message 
read : 

'*I must communicate to your Excellency the ex- 
pression of my deep fellow-feeling on the occasion of 
the disaster which has overtaken the flourishing city 
and harbor of Galveston and other parts of Texas. 
I mourn with you and the people of the United States 
the great loss of life and property which this hurri- 
cane was responsible for. On a par, however, with the 
immensity of the injury wrought is the indomitable 
spirit of the citizens of the New World, which they 
have won and preserved in the long struggle against 
the hostile forces of nature. I indulge the earnest 
hope that Galveston will rise to renewed prosperity." 

When on September lo, 1901, President McKinley 
was shot by an anarchist assassin, during a visit to the 
Buffalo Exposition, the Kaiser immediately telegraphed 
as follows: 

'' The news of the execrable attempt upon your life 
has plunged me in grief, and I wish to express my own 

117 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

and the entire German people's sympathy with you 
and with the sorrow that has overwhelmed your 
country. May it please God to vouchsafe to you safe 
and rapid recovery." 

To Mrs. McKinley, too, the imperial couple jointly 
sent the following cablegram: 

''Terror-struck by the attempt upon your husband, 
both the Empress and I express to you our profound 
sympathy and the hope that God may restore health 
to President McKinley." 

Through our embassy in Berlin these messages were 
answered as follows : 

"The touching evidence of sympathy by their Majesties 
the German Emperor and Empress has been communicated to 
Mrs. McKinley. The embassy is instructed to express in her 
behalf deep-felt appreciation." 

In 1902, on the occasion of the launching of a yacht, 
the Meteor, which the Kaiser had ordered built here, 
and which ceremony took place on Shooter's Island, 
Prince Henry, the Kaiser's brother, visited this country. 
He was everywhere received with hospitality and cord- 
ial good- will, and his winning ways, his frank and un- 
affected manliness and unassuming character doubt- 
less produced a pleasant and lasting impression on the 
people and government of this country. The visit, too, 
probably aided in healing some old sores dating from 
1898, and was thus in a sense a political event. In 
Germany, however, where royalty stands under all cir- 
cumstances on an exceptional and exalted footing, and 
where such condescending demeanor as Prince Henry 
exhibited during his entire visit here is unheard of, they 
have, nevertheless, been somewhat disappointed with 

118 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITED STATES 

the palpable results. In this country and in England, 
the question with many was, What was the real object 
of Prince Henry's visit? 

To this question a distinguished American naval 
officer, Rear- Admiral Evans, gives a quite explicit and 
more or less satisfying answer in an article which ap- 
peared, in June last, in a London magazine. Admiral 
Evans, intimately and for many years acquainted with 
Prince Henry, and who was the guest's constant com- 
panion throughout his stay in the United States, says, 
in substance, that from his personal knowledge and 
from many conversations had with the Prince, he could 
say that the only purpose aimed at or subserved by the 
visit was to show the friendship of the German Kaiser 
and his people, and, incidentally, to have him acquire, 
vicariously for the Kaiser, as it were, as comprehensive 
a knowledge of this country, its people, institutions, 
purposes, and methods, as the brief duration of his stay 
here would permit. 

To show his gratitude to the American people for the 
hearty and kindly hospitality shown his brother, and to 
give them at the same time a new proof of his friend- 
ship, the Kaiser, soon after Prince Henry's return, gave 
notice of his intention to present as a gift a statue of his 
sire, Frederick the Great. On May 14, 1902, he tele- 
graphed to President Roosevelt: 

" I am still under the strong impression which the 
brilliant and cordial reception of my brother. Prince 
Henry, by the citizens of the United States of America 
has made on me. In the speeches in which he was wel- 
comed, mention was made repeatedly of the fact that 
my ancestor, Frederick the Great, consistently assumed 
a friendly attitude towards the young American Repub- 
lic at the time of its formation, laying thereby the foun- 
dation for those amicable relations which have ever 

119 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

since existed between the two countries. The ex- 
ample thus furnished me by the great king I will fol- 
low. I should like to perpetuate the memory of the 
visit of Prince Henry by a gift to the American people, 
which I beg you will accept in their name. I intend to 
present the United States with a bronze statue of 
Frederick the Great, which might be erected in Wash- 
ington in a spot which I leave it to you to select. May 
this gift be looked upon as a permanent token of the 
intimate relations which our two great nations have so 
successfully nursed and developed." 

To this telegram President Roosevelt replied, in Ger- 
man, in the following message, which the Kaiser re- 
ceived in Wiesbaden, where he then happened to be : 

"I am deeply touched by your friendly and magnificent 
offer. I thank you cordially for it in the name of the United 
States, and shall submit it at once to Congress. It will cer- 
tainly give our people the greatest pleasure to receive from your 
hands a statue of the famous ruler and soldier, one of the great- 
est men of all times, Frederick the Great, and it is specially 
appropriate that his statue is to be erected here in the city of 
Washington, the capital of the republic whose birth he con- 
templated with such amicable interest. For this new proof of 
your friendly sentiment towards this country I thank you in its 
name. The gift will surely be viewed here as a renewed token 
of friendship between the two nations. We hope and trust 
that this friendship will become still stronger and more durable 
in the years to come. It is a harbinger of the welfare of all 
humanity, that at the threshold of this century the American 
and the German peoples work together in a spirit of cordial 
friendship. Roosevelt." 

Another proof of the Kaiser's friendly regard for us 
was his inviting, as his personal guests, our Generals 
Corbin, Young, and Wood, to participate in the great 
army manoeuvres last fall. They returned full of praise 
and appreciation of the manifold kindnesses shown and 

120 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITED STATES 

the facilities afforded them to view advantageously 
the great military spectacle. 

Again, in the Venezuela imbroglio, long before decid- 
ing on compulsory measures towards that recalcitrant 
South American debtor, the Kaiser took explicit pains 
to ascertain the opinions, predilections, and conven- 
ience of the United States, so far as steps which he 
contemplated were concerned, and the policy finally 
outlined and adopted by him in trying to effect a set- 
tlement with Venezuela was substantially based on a 
previous friendly understanding had with Washington. 
He also made a point, last year, of giving, through the 
mouth of his then ambassador in Washington, Von 
Holleben, formal assurances of his and his government's 
unqualified adherence to the Monroe doctrine, as that 
article of American faith had last been officially inter- 
preted by President Roosevelt himself. 

Again, the recall of Ambassador von Holleben, who 
had not shown a lucky hand in dealing with the ad- 
justment of important points at issue between the 
two countries, and the sending in his place of Baron 
Speck von Sternburg, must be taken as an earnest 
of his desire to avoid all friction with this country. 
For he knew that Baron Sternburg was, in a pe- 
culiarly strong sense, persona gratis sima with Presi- 
dent Roosevelt and with our entire official world in 
Washington. 

In the foregoing it was distinctly stated that the 
Kaiser's views as to this country underwent a great 
modification since the events of the year 1898. In 
proof of this, some of his authentic utterances about 
America, made for the most part anterior to the war 
with Spain, must be given a place here. 

To the late General Runyon, American ambassador 
in Berlin during the last Cleveland administration, he 
said: 

121 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

" Such a pushing people as the Americans will, sooner 
or later, clash with others, but let us hope never with 
Germany." 

To Ambassador White, recently retired, he re- 
marked: 

''America is a country of contrasts — piercing lights 
and deep shadows." 

On another occasion : 

'' I know there are many things my Germans might 
learn from the American people; above all, their op- 
timism, their almost naive enthusiasm and unquench- 
able energy." 

To the late ex- President Harrison he said, in the 
course of an hour's conversation: 

''Your whole country is an experiment — an intense- 
ly interesting one, I admit, but still an experiment. 
Whether it will stand the storms of time as the older 
monarchies of Europe have done remains still to be 
seen." 

To the same: 

" One of the doubtful features of American life is its 
lack of national cohesion and homogeneity. You're a 
conglomerate, a bubbling caldron." 

To the same: 

"Such seething party politics as yours are not con- 
ducive to a calm, well-balanced public opinion." 

122 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITED STATES 

There is, however, nothing reported of him during 
the last couple of years which mirrors the like views. 
On the contrary, since Prince Henry, after the latter' s 
return from his visit here, had given his imperial broth- 
er a full, vivid, and truthful account of all the novel 
things seen and heard here, the Kaiser is said to have 
given expression in private conversation to his great 
admiration of the pluck, the national cohesion, and the 
fervid patriotism of the American people. 



PROMOTING THE WELFARE 
OF THE EMPIRE 



VIII 

THE KAISER AND THE UNITY IDEA 

He is the chief instrument of imperial consolidation — Con- 
stant iteration of the necessity of national unanimity — The 
empire's jubilee in 1896 — The Kaiser's speeches and decrees 
on that occasion — His commemoration of the centenary of 
William I.'s birth — His oration at the dedicatory festivities 
of the Marienburg. 

His very position as head of reunited Germany 
makes it the Kaiser's duty and prerogative to advocate 
consistently the idea of national consolidation. He 
personates and typifies the empire's unity and har- 
mony. Far more than his grandfather did, William II. 
stands for imperial power and influence, and so far as 
his internal policy is concerned, preponderance of im- 
perial power may be taken as the first and foremost 
item in his programme. During his reign of fifteen 
years, his speeches and sayings on innumerable occa- 
sions breathe this central idea. During his constant 
travels within the empire, when receiving delegations, 
at the openings of Reichstag sessions, when assisting at 
the celebration of national memorial days, the Kaiser 
always stands for an ideal conception of the nation's 
consolidation. 

When the war with France broke out, in 1870, 
Prince William was but eleven years old, but with en- 
thusiasm he followed every phase of the memorable 
struggle, and waxed eloquent, in his boyish way, at the 
heroic deeds of his father and grandfather. He prized 

127 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

— and still prizes — the acquisitions made by that war, 
especially the achievement of national unity and the 
reconquest of Alsace-Lorraine, as a sacred inheritance 
whose conservation and full fruition is left to himself 
above all. 

Eight years after the accession of William II., the 
nation celebrated the quarter-century jubilee of the 
conclusion of the peace of Frankfort - on - Main, from 
which dates the internationally admitted sanction of 
the young empire's existence, and Kaiser William II. 
at that time repeatedly gave voice to the national joy 
at the accomplished unity. 

On January 17, 1896, the Prince-Regent Luitpold 
of Bavaria ^ sent the Kaiser the following telegram : 

"On the eve of the German Empire's jubilee, I must ex- 
press to your Imperial Majesty my most sincere congratula- 
tions. Twenty-five years ago the new German Empire was 
founded. To-day it stands, internally consolidated, firm and 
respected by the other nations. May Providence continue to 
bless and protect it." 

To which the Kaiser responded: 

" With all my heart I thank your Royal Highness for 
the congratulations sent me on the occasion of the Ger- 
man Empire's jubilee. The bond which has united the 
German tribes and their rulers during the past twenty- 
five years wilb'prove, I trust to God, likewise solid and 
unbreakable in the future." 

On the succeeding day, the anniversary of the mem- 
orable proclamation of a reunited Germany which had 
taken place in the Salle des Glaces, in Louis XIV. 's 
grand palace in Versailles, on January 18, 187 1, while 



' King Otto of Bavaria being 
hopelessly insane, his uncle, Lu- 
itpold, has been reigning in his 



stead ever since, his official title 
being "Prince -Regent." He is 
an octogenarian. — Ed. 



128 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITY IDEA 

the guns flashed and boomed the besiegers' greetings 
into the briUiant capital of the foe, there was a special 
divine service in the old royal castle in Berlin, followed 
by a splendid function in the White Hall. Among the 
invited guests on that occasion were the members of 
the present Reichstag, and of the very first one, that of 
187 1. The Kaiser then appeared, surrounded by a 
number of German sovereigns, by his court in gala at- 
tire, and by a brilliant suite of distinguished generals 
and high dignitaries. He read from the steps of the 
throne a document whose striking passages were the 
following : 

"... Twenty-five years ago my grandfather, now 
resting in God, obeying the unanimous desire of the 
German sovereigns, the rulers of the free cities, and 
of the nation at large, accepted the dignity of the 
German Emperor. Therefore we have resolved to 
commemorate this important event. By it the old- 
time longing of the German people has at last been 
definitely and brilliantly realized, and Germany has 
once more assumed that position to which its history 
and its civilizatory development entitles it among 
the nations of the globe. 

''We have for the purpose bidden here the repre- 
sentatives of our august allies and the delegates of the 
nation, as well as those who at the great time of our 
unification aided prominently in accomplishing this 
task. 

" Surrounded by the banners and standards of those 
glorious regiments which were the instruments of the 
valor of our people, and which on that day saluted the 
first German Kaiser, we are reminded with a deeply 
moved heart of that inspiriting picture which the 
united fatherland offered to its contemporaries in its 
princes and consolidated tribes. 
9 129 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

*' Looking back upon the past twenty-five years, we 
cannot do other than offer our humble thanks to 
divine Providence, whose blessing has visibly rested 
upon the empire and its members. 

" The pledge given by our grandfather in accepting 
the imperial crown, and repeated by his successors, to 
protect with German steadfastness and fidelity the 
rights of the empire and its members, to maintain 
peace, and to promote the strength of the nation, has 
with God's help been kept hitherto. 

" Borne by the conviction that its mission is to lift 
up its voice in the council of nations in favor of peace, 
with malice towards none and with favor towards none, 
the young empire has devoted itself undisturbedly to 
the task of consolidating its internal institutions. 

" . ... Ready and willing for any sacrifice where 
the good of the whole was at stake, the empire has 
demonstrated its ability to retain what has been ac- 
quired, to safeguard it, to heal defects in the social 
organism, and to go forward in furthering the satis- 
faction of the different classes of the population. 

"We can rejoice at what has been accomplished in 
this line. 

** . . . A free track for the development and mani- 
festation of the intellectual and material forces of the 
nation, the promotion of the well-being thereby en- 
gendered, the establishment of equal and common 
justice, the security of an impartial and generally 
approved law, and the education of our youth to be- 
come God-fearing and faithful to the fatherland — 
these have been the aims which the empire has con- 
stantly striven for. 

** . . . As we ourselves herewith renew the promise 
to live after the august example furnished us by our 
deplored grandfather, in ceaseless fulfilment of duty, 
SQ we demand, by right of our imperial office, of all and 

130 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITY IDEA 

every member of our nation, first alw^iys to keep in 
view the welfare of the empire, regardless of party or 
partisan interests, imitating m this our high allies, to 
devote themselves to the service of the fatherland with 
all their powers and with German fidelity, and thus 
promote in joint effort the greatness and the happi- 
ness of our beloved country. 

*'If this be done, the blessings of Heaven will, we 
trust, continue to remain with us, and we shall, as in 
that great time of unification, harmonious and proof 
against every attack, go on devoting ourselves to the 
fostering and preservation of our own national in- 
terests. 

" And the German Empire, instead of being a danger 
to other states and countries, will remain, enjoying the 
esteem and confidence of foreign nations, a strong 
bulwark of peace. 

** God grant that this be so!" 

Then the Kaiser seized the regimental flag of the 
ist Foot Guards, lowered it, and, in a strong voice and 
with dramatic effect, said : 

"Facing this venerable symbol of glory, typical of 
two centuries of unexampled achievements, I here- 
with renew my vow always to protect the honor of 
nation and empire, both within and without! One 
country, one nation, one God!" 

At the grand banquet in the afternoon the Kaiser 
delivered himself of the following speech : 

"... What our fathers dreamed, what German 
youth sang and desired, that was vouchsafed to my 
father and grandfather to accomplish, with the Ger- 
man princes aiding faithfully, restoring the glories 

131 



THE KAlSER^S SPEECHES 

of old. We on our part may enjoy; we may feel glad 
to-day. But that means that we, too, have a duty 
to perform — namely, to preserve what they achieved. 
The German Empire has become a world power. 
Everywhere, in the farthest corners of the globe, 
dwell thousands of our countrymen. German wares, 
German science, German diligence cross the oceans. 
In thousands of millions we may reckon the values 
which Germany has floating on the seas. 

"It is your part, gentlemen, to help me in the task 
of linking firmly this greater German Empire with 
the smaller home. The vow I made to-day in the 
presence of you all can only be wholly fulfilled if you, 
stirred by the spirit of holy, undivided patriotism, 
lend me your fullest, most untiring support. With 
this wish, therefore, that you will help me with all 
your might in doing my duty not alone to my country- 
men at home, but also to those many thousands of our 
countrymen living abroad — that is, to enable me to 
protect them when it is my duty so to do — and with 
the poet's warning, touching us all, ' Was du ererbt 
von deinen Vatern hast, erwerb es, um es zu besitzen,' ^ 
I raise my glass and propose a toast to the welfare of 
our beloved German fatherland: The German Em- 
pire — may it prosper and live! Hock! Again, hock! 
And a third time, hochF' 

To perpetuate the memory of his grandfather, 
William I., to whom and his father he in his speeches 
and decrees on that day, and on many other occasions, 
exclusively attributed the glory of the great achieve- 
ments of 1870-71,^ the Kaiser founded a new and 

* A quotation from Goethe, 
meaning, What thou hast in- 
herited from thy fathers must 
be earned by thyself in order to 
be fully thine. — Ed. 



^ The systematic omission of 
the names of Bismarck and 
Moltke, and of all others who had 
had a leading share in bring- 
ing about the re-establishment 



132 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITY IDEA 

highly graded and prized decoration, the so-called 
** Wilhelms-Orden," and issued a decree to that effect 
on the same day, January i8, 1896. 

On the 2 2d of the same month the Kaiser, in a de- 
cree addressed to the then imperial chancellor, Prince 
Hohenlohe, expresses great satisfaction at the una- 
nimity and enthusiasm with which the empire's jubilee 
had been kept, and then says : 

*' . . . This has gladdened my heart and strength- 
ened my belief that the German people will never 
permit that the things won on January 18, 1871, be 
wrested from their grasp, and that, with the help of 
God, they will know how to defend their most prized 
treasures. To all those who have evidenced their 
love for the fatherland and for me, and who have 
helped me by their collaboration, I render my most 
cordial thanks. I request you to publish this decree 
immediately." 

Soon after, at the twenty-fifth anniversary of the 
peace of Frankfort-on-Main, the imperial couple hav- 
ing gone to that city for the purpose of celebrating the 
day, a monument of William I. was unveiled by the 
Kaiser. And in reply to an address by the chief bur- 
gomaster of Frankfort, Adickes, the monarch delivered 
an address of considerable length. In it he said : 



of the German Empire and the 
preceding victories over France, 
created at the time wide-spread 
indignation in Germany. In some 
previous speeches the Kaiser had 
even spoken of Bismarck as a 
mere Handlanger — i. e., "tool" 
— of his grandfather, whereas 
that term of contempt could be 
more fittingly applied, as history 



teaches, to Bismarck's nominal 
master. The total estrangement 
that took place between the im- 
pulsive Kaiser and the retired ex- 
chancellor, and Bismarck's fre- 
quent sarcastic remarks about 
the young monarch, explain to a 
very great extent this phenome- 
non , but there was also policy in 
it.— Ed. 



133 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

" . . . It is meet that on such a day our eyes turn 
towards the figure of my grandfather. We see him at 
a time when he, at the side of his mother and of his 
father, sojourned far in the east of the monarchy, * and 
we apprehend, from the vicissitudes through which his 
life had to pass, how the Almighty leads ruler and na- 
tion, in order to form gradually the tool wherewith He 
is to give back peace to the world. . . . Our eyes dwell 
on him at that moment when he stood in Konigsberg 
emphatically demonstrating the divine right of royalty, 
the sceptre in one hand and the imperial sword in the 
other, giving God alone the honor, and taking over the 
heavy burden of his office from Him alone. Thus he 
became the selected, the chosen instrument of the Most 
High. But not alone that. He became also for us the 
model, the model for all monarchs, who can achieve 
only in that case something for their peoples and 
through their peoples if they remain firm in the faith 
that their ofhce, jgiven them by Heaven, also com- 
pels them to render one day an account of it to 
Heaven." 

In the further course of his oration the Kaiser spoke 
enthusiastically of the army, which he called *'the 
creation of my grandfather," and with which ''the old 
master" had restored a period of long, unbroken peace 
to the world. He condemned political party spirit, and 
said: 

" The army and tne commander-in-chief alone guar- 
antee the security of the empire and the peace of the 
world." 



* The Kaiser here refers, of 
course, to the flight of his grand- 
father, then a boy of ten, with 
his mother, Queen Louise, to the 



remotest and poorest province 
of Prussia, after the reverses, 
in 1806, at Jena and Auerstadt. 
—Ed. 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITY IDEA 

On that day he sent also a telegram to Prince Bis- 
marck at Friedrichsruh, saying: 

''The peace of Frankfort, concluded twenty-five 
years ago, and in memory of which this moment an 
equestrian statue of Kaiser William the Great, now 
resting in God, has been unveiled, formed the last link 
in a chain of great events by which Germany recovered 
once more her unity and greatness, as also the position 
to which she is entitled in the council of nations. It is 
my desire and my duty to acknowledge on this occa- 
sion, my dear Prince, in gratitude and respect, the 
great services rendered by you. ..." 

On May 17, 1896, the Kaiser, in a decree to the chan- 
cellor, Prince Hohenlohe, thanked the whole nation for 
the many signs of patriotism evinced of late, especially 
for the dedication of so many monuments erected by a 
grateful posterity to the " Hero Emperor, William the 
Great." 

On July 3, 1896, the Kaiser sent a telegram to Hoh- 
enlohe from on board his yacht in Scandinavian waters, 
expressing joy at the adoption by the Reichstag of a 
uniform civil code for the whole of the empire, saying 
he saw in it " a new cementing for the fatherland, now 
united in one empire." 

The centenary of the birth of William I., March 22, 
1897, was also made a great day by the Kaiser, for the 
purpose of promoting feelings of patriotism and com- 
mon love and interest in the empire. On that day he 
published a decree to the army, saying: 

"The country to-day commemorates the date on 
which, a century ago, William the Great was born, that 
grand ruler who, according to the will of Providence, 
was to lead the German people once more into longed- 

135 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

for unity, and afterwards to give himself to it as its 
emperor. 

" When Germany's frontiers were threatened by hos- 
tile attack, her honor and independence in question, 
the long-divided tribes north and south met once more 
on common ground. The companionship-in-arms seal- 
ed in oceans of heroic blood on France's battle-fields 
by German hosts became the corner-stone of the new 
empire and of the new federation comprising forever 
the princes and tribes of Germany. Of this unifica- 
tion, the grand monument erected to its great Kaiser 
by the love and veneration of the German nation, and 
dedicated to-day,* honoring the father of the father- 
land, is an inspiring witness. To-day's celebration will 
remain engraved in all hearts which beat for Germany's 
honor and welfare, not to be forgotten by all those who 
followed the victorious banners of William the Great, 
and who were enabled to aid him in accomplishing the 
task of his life. 

" Specially to mark this festive day, I herewith order 
that henceforth my army will wear the colors of the 
common fatherland.^ This token of unity achieved, 
the German colors will be given to-day and at this same 
hour, in accordance with the unanimous resolve of my 
august allies, to their troops. This token is to be a vis- 
ible warning at all times to stand up for Germany's glory 
and greatness, to protect it with their life's blood. ..." 

To commemorate still further the achievements of his 
grandfather, the Kaiser also caused the distribution of 



' The Kaiser speaks here of the 
national monument to William I . 
at Berlin, erected by popular sub- 
scription and unveiled on that 
day. It faces the royal castle. 
—Ed. 

^So far the different contin- 



gents of the German army had 
only worn the respective colors 
of their sovereign state, the Prus- 
sian the black-and-white, the 
Saxon the green-and-white, the 
Bavarian the blue - and - white, 
and so forth. — Ed. 



136 



THE KAISER AND THE UNITY IDEA 

memorial medals, bearing the image of William I., in 
the army and among the remainder of the population, 
to all reputable veterans of the war of 1870-71. 

At the dedication of the splendidly restored Marien- 
burg, the ancient stronghold of the Knights of St.John, 
in the province of West Prussia, on June 5, 1902, the 
Kaiser delivered himself of another significant address, 
in answer to a toast proposed by Prince Albrecht of 
Prussia, chief master of the order. In it he severely 
censured the anti-German machinations of the Polish 
element in the population of the three eastern prov- 
inces of Prussia, saying: 

"... Once before I had occasion, while likewise 
speaking in this bulwark, the old Marienburg, to em- 
phasize the fact that this ancient stronghold in the 
East, the radiating point of culture and civilization in 
the lands east of the Vistula, is to remain a symbol for 
the tasks devolving on the German race. And now we 
see that Polish insolence dares to attack Germanism, 
and I am compelled to call upon my people to defend 
their most sacred treasures. . . ." 

Thus the Kaiser, in his words and in his acts, con- 
stantly and strenuously upholds the principle of Ger- 
man unity, of greater national consolidation. In this, 
it may be said, he encounters, however, much dogged 
resistance, not so much openly as contravening him in 
secret. This resistance proceeds not only from a num- 
ber of Germany's smaller sovereign rulers, but from 
large strata of the population itself, notably in Bavaria 
and other parts of South Germany. There cannot be 
room for doubt that his consistent attitude, favoring 
firmer cohesion of the different states making up the 
empire, has wrought a very perceptible change in this 
respect during the fifteen years of his reign. 

137 



IX 

THE KAISER AND THE ALLIED GERMAN RULERS 

Peculiar difficulties that stood in the way of winning their 
confidence — Relations with the Bavarian royal house — 
Those with Saxony, Wiirtemberg, Baden, Hesse, and minor 
dynasties — The Kaiser's skilful use of blood relationship 
with a number of his allied "colleagues" — Repeated mis- 
understandings between him and the Bavarian house — 
Panegyric upon his uncle of Baden. 

In one of the earliest speeches after his accession, the 
Kaiser, with a perfect apprehension of the difficulties 
confronting him in his efforts to win the confidence 
and the respect of the other sovereign rulers of the 
empire, spoke as follows: 

''It is one thing when a nonagenarian directs the 
government, as was the case with my late grandfather, 
who had an active and successful life behind him. He 
was the eldest of his colleagues. His counsel and ad- 
vice were sought, and much was done to please him, 
out of sheer affection. Then along come I, barely thirty 
years old, and nobody knows me. I had first to win the 
confidence of my colleagues." 

That he in the main has been successful in earning 
and retaining this confidence must be admitted. In 
doing that* he accomplished something of the utmost 
importance for the existence and preservation of the 
empire, for only continued perfect accord among the 

138 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN RULERS 

twenty-five sovereign rulers o£ the empire can obviate 
dangerous differences, whose effect necessarily must be 
weakening to the whole complicated body politic. 

It must be kept in mind that the empire's founda- 
tion rests upon a compact, defensive and offensive, be- 
tween the Emperor as King of Prussia and the other 
twenty-four smaller sovereigns of Germany. The con- 
stitutional rights and prerogatives of the Emperor could 
not alone suffice to make such a compact effective in 
directing the empire's fortunes with success. A great 
deal depends on the personal worth of the Emperor, on 
his personal magnetism, his gifts of suasion, his states- 
man-like power to sway the minds of his " colleagues " 
— in a word, on his individual influence. 

Among the German sovereigns the Kaiser has a num- 
ber of sincere friends. Grand-duke Frederick of Baden 
is his maternal uncle. The late King Albert of Saxony 
cherished a great and unvarying affection for him. In 
his turn the Kaiser always showed much deference for 
this ablest and most conciliatory of the minor German 
rulers, who was also the last of the great generals of the 
Franco - German War. King Albert seized every op- 
portunity to promote the sentiment of German unity, 
and on several conspicuous occasions acted as the 
national leader in the service of that idea. It was to 
him the Emperor Frederick, on his death-bed, warm- 
ly recommended his successor, the impetuous young 
Prince William. With a number of other German 
rulers and princes the Kaiser is allied by bonds of 
blood relationship, as, for instance, with the Grand- 
duke Ernst Louis of Hesse, with the reigning Grand- 
duke of Mecklenburg-Schwerin, with the young ruler 
of Saxe- Weimar, with the Regent of Brunswick (who 
is his uncle) , with the reigning Prince of Schaumburg- 
Lippe, and others. These ties he has used most skil- 
fully throughout, often dwelling on them in his toasts 

139 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

and speeches, and thereby fostering poHtical accord 
as well. 

It was a few months after his accession, in Septem- 
ber, 1888, the Kaiser began his round of visits at the 
courts of his '' colleagues." On the 28th of that month, 
at the gala dinner given him at the royal castle in 
Stuttgart, he proposed a toast to King Carl of Wur- 
temberg, saying: 

*' . . . I beg your Majesty to believe me when I say 
that it was with specially cordial sentiments I came 
here. For this beautiful land, and the fine race in- 
habiting it over which your Majesty rules, have pro- 
duced during the Middle Ages many of the most glori- 
ous emperors who guided the destinies of Germany. 
And it draws me hither more particularly because the 
Suabian land was also the cradle of my house, and in 
my veins flows the same Suabian blood which the gen- 
tlemen here present are proud of. . . ." 

A few days later he was in Munich, replying to Burgo- 
master Widenmayer's address of welcome with flatter- 
ing references to Bavaria's important role in German 
history, and speaking of the reigning Bavarian dynasty 
as ''intimately allied in its interests with the House of 
Hohenzollern." 

At the royal castle in Mimich, replying to Prince- 
Regent Luitpold, the Kaiser said: 

*' . . . Your Royal Highness has transferred to me, 
in the most magnanimous way, the tried and unbroken 
friendship which united you with my late grand- 
father. And as it was the Bavarian royal house in 
1870 which took the first steps towards the regener- 
ation of the united fatherland, so now your Royal 
Highness has been the first among Germany's princes 

140 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN RULERS 

to stretch out a hand in friendship and to ofEer me 

advice. 

"... Let me assure your Royal Highness that the 
sentiment is most sincere which impels me to pledge 
you my most cordial friendship, and to take the solemn 
vow that I shall co-operate in Hohenzollem faithfulness 
with the House of Wittelsbach and, with the valorous 
Bavarian people, cling steadfastly to them in good 
and evil days. ..." 

On subsequent occasions, too, the Kaiser spoke in a 
similar strain, and from time to time telegrams and 
letters attesting mutual good-will were exchanged be- 
tween Berlin and Munich. But, nevertheless, a really 
cordial understanding between Bavaria and Prussia 
and between the two respective dynasties has never 
been estabhshed, and evidences of that are cropping 
out every httle while. Two such conspicuous occa- 
sions were the following: During the coronation cere- 
monies in Moscow, in 1895, when the present Czar, 
Nicholas II., was crowned, the Kaiser and a number 
of smaller German princes attended. It was at a 
banquet that a Prussian prince inadvertently made 
use of the term "suite," including in it by implica- 
tion the representative of Bavaria, Prince Louis, the 
heir-apparent, who at once indignantly spoke up, stig- 
matizing the word as highly improper and insulting to 
the sovereign allies of the Kaiser. The affair made 
much unpleasant stir throughout Germany, more par- 
ticularly in Bavaria, where it was bitterly resented as 
a striking illustration of " Prussian arrogance." Again, 
when the Kaiser, without awaiting a formal invitation 
to the Bavarian army manoeuvres, attended them, a 
few years ago, a similar outbreak of hostile feeling was 
aroused in Bavaria. 

The Kaiser's bitter and rancorous quarrel with the 

141 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

present Prince-Regent of Lippe-Detmold, an insignif- 
icant domain in western Germany, likewise stirred up 
much feeling and led to adverse criticism. The Kaiser, 
it is interesting to note, was worsted in that quarrel, no 
less a personage than his friend, King Albert of Saxony, 
deciding against him on every point in the court of ar- 
bitration summoned for the purpose, and Prince-Re- 
gent Ernst was confirmed in all his rights. 

Meanwhile, however, the Kaiser, during the earlier 
part of his reign, was continuing his visits of ceremony 
at the different minor courts of Germany. His recep- 
tion was especially cordial in Dresden, Oldenburg, 
Weimar, Brunswick, Darmstadt, and Carlsruhe. In 
Schaumburg, the heir-apparent of which is married to 
one of the Kaiser's sisters, he spoke of the reigning 
prince as "the oldest and most faithful ally of my 
grandfather." The Grand-duke Peter of Oldenburg he 
called " a faithful friend and valued confederate of my 
dear grandfather." In Weimar, the birthplace of his 
grandmother, he dwelt on ''this home of the great 
poets of the nation," and toasted his great -uncle, 
Grand-duke Carl Alexander of Saxe- Weimar, in flat- 
tering phrase. 

In Brunswick he answered a toast proposed by his 
uncle, the Prince-Regent Albrecht, by saying: 

"The historical relations between our two houses 
have been most intimate and cordial for centuries, and 
our house remembers with gratitude that Brunswick's 
rulers, mindful of their duty as German princes and 
always striving to promote the greatness of our Ger- 
man fatherland, have risked and lost their blood and 
life for our house." 

On June i8, 1889, Saxony celebrated the unbroken 
reign of its dynasty, the Wettins, for eight centuries, 

142 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN RULERS 

and the Kaiser attended the principal ceremony in 
Dresden, where he was heartily welcomed by King Al- 
bert. He toasted his host as follows: 

"... I know that I am one with everybody present 
when I say: God protect, God bless your Majesty and 
your entire house. . . ." 

He participated in the joyous celebration of the 
twenty-fifth anniversary of the reign of King Carl of 
Wiirtemberg, and said that he, "like hosts of other 
princes and friends of the royal house," had come to 
"help celebrate so auspicious an occasion." 

On August 19, 1889, the imperial couple visited the 
grand-ducal family of Baden, and toasted Grand-duke 
Frederick as '"a prince to whom it had been vouch- 
safed to see and take his share in the unanimous rising 
and reunification of the great German fatherland." 

At the great army manoeuvres of the Saxon contin- 
gent, in September, 1889, the Kaiser, being then a 
guest in the royal castle in Dresden, paid the following 
touching tribute to King Albert : 

" It is a heavy debt I have to discharge. For many 
years your Majesty has cared for and advised me, with 
unwavering constancy and fidelity. And it was, as 
your Majesty knows, my late father who recommend- 
ed me with particular anxiety to you, praying that 
you would have an eye on me in case death should 
claim him before his time. 

"Your Majesty has heeded this prayer in the most 
magnanimous manner, and for many years past I have 
found a true friend and fatherly adviser in your Maj- 
esty. ..." 

To the Grand-duke Frederick Francis of Mecklen- 

143 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

burg-Schwerin he said, on October i, 1889, when on a 
visit there with the Empress : 

"Everywhere in these halls friendly and pleasant 
memories are awakened, memories of your Royal 
Highness' s father and of my own grandfather, two 
rulers who must be reckoned with the best history 
tells of. We two younger ones will try to emulate 
these two, not alone in all the virtues that grace the 
ruler, but also in brotherly affection and harmony. 

" I will stand by you as firmly as I know you will 
by me." 

On December 4, 1889, at a visit paid in Dessau, at 
the court of Anhalt, the Kaiser spoke enthusiastically 
of the great ancestor of the reigning duke, one of the 
greatest generals under Frederick the Great, and 
assured him of the undying gratitude of the Prussian 
people. 

Toasting the Grand-duke Louis IV. of Hesse, at a 
visit paid in Darmstadt, the Kaiser said: 

*'...! was permitted to spend two years of my 
life here in your house, two years which I reckon 
among the brightest and most profitable. ..." 

At the manoeuvres of the two Bavarian army corps, 
on September 11, 1891, the Kaiser formally thanked the 
Prince- Regent Luitpold for having beeri permitted to 
view "the perfectly drilled Bavarian army, ready for 
instant war." The Kaiser thus concluded his remarks : 

" I am convinced that the Bavarian army would 
prove itself, in the event of war, as efficient as at 
Weissenburg and Sedan. This is mainly owing to the 
exertions of your Royal Highness and to those of the 

144 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN RULERS 

Bavarian princes actively serving in the army. It 
has given me great joy to meet and become better 
acquainted with the members of the Bavarian royal 
house on the occasion of these manoeuvres." 

October 6, 1891, King Carl of Wiirtemberg died, 
and was succeeded by his nephew, King William II., 
who had served as an officer in the same hussar regi- 
ment of the guard corps in Potsdam in which the 
Kaiser himself had received a part of his military ed- 
ucation. It is partly owing to this fact that the new 
ruler of Wiirtemberg is on much more intimate and 
friendly terms with the Kaiser than his predecessor 
ever was. On January 25, 1892, the royal couple of 
Wiirtemberg visited Berlin, and was welcomed by the 
Emperor in a speech in which he said : 

"... This friendship which unites us and our coun- 
tries will promote the welfare of our common father- 
land. . . ." 

At a banquet given after a grand military parade in 
Metz, on September 9, 1893, the Kaiser delivered a 
panegyric upon his uncle, the Grand-duke Frederick of 
Baden, reviewing the latter' s brilliant career as a sol- 
dier during the war of 1870-71, praising his excellent 
thoroughness in keeping the Baden contingent of the 
German army abreast of the Prussian one, and accord- 
ing him warm commendation for his patriotism and 
his steadfast advocacy of unity in the empire. On 
September nth, but two days later, after reviewing 
the 14th (Baden) Army Corps, the Kaiser lauded the 
Grand-duke Frederick in even more cordial terms, and 
did full justice to Badenese valor and military efficien- 
cy. He also dwelt in his address with special empha- 
sis on the fact that Grand-duke Frederick had played 

145 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

a large part in the winter of 1870-71 in winning over 
South Germany to the idea of consoHdating with the 
North into a united empire. 

When Grand-duke Ernst Louis of Hesse followed his 
father in the reign, on March 13, 1892, relations be- 
tween that grand-duchy and Prussia became also more 
intimate and pleasant, partially owing to the fact that 
the Grand-duke's mother^ and the Kaiser's mother 
had been sisters. The Kaiser paid the court at 
Darmstadt a visit of some length in October, 1894, 
and at the banquet on the 15 th he spoke in a highly 
flattering manner of his relations with the grand-ducal 
family. 

To Prince Leopold of Bavaria, on the occasion of the 
latter*s appointment as field-marshal, the Kaiser wrote, 
on February 16, 1896, a letter of congratulation, recall- 
ing Prince Leopold's victory over the French at Ville- 
pion, and lauding him for his unceasing efforts to in- 
crease the efficiency of the Bavarian army. 

After a review of the 12th (Saxon) Army Corps, on 
September 3, 1896, at Zeithain, the Kaiser spoke in en- 
thusiastic praise of the efficiency of the Saxon con- 
tingent. 

On the occasion of the seventieth birthday of Grand- 
duke Frederick of Baden, on September 9, 1896, the 
Kaiser sent a warmly worded telegram to him. 

On leaving Gorlitz, after the big autumn army ma- 
noeuvres, on September 12, 1896, the Kaiser wired to 
the King of Saxony a message full of appreciation for 
the excellent condition of the Saxon army corps, and 
also on the personal efforts towards that end made 
by King Albert and his brother, Prince George. 

At the centenary celebration in honor of William L, 
on March 22, 1897, nearly all German sovereigns and 

* The Grand-duke's mother was Princess Alice, a sister of the Em- 
press Frederick. — Ed. 

146 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN RULERS 

the immediate members of their households were as- 
sembled in Berlin. At the banquet in the royal castle 
the Kaiser proposed a toast in which he said : 

"... With a heart touched to the quick, I thank 
you all, my cousins, uncles, and august allies, and also 
the representatives of foreign sovereigns, for sharing 
to-day our celebration, and thereby proving anew that 
Europe's dynasties are united by one common tie of 
family affection, and that the joy and sorrow of one 
is the concern of all. 

" It is not mine to laud to-day the undying merits of 
my great sire, of my late grandfather. What we have 
seen to-day, and the manner in which the people have 
participated, shows how living his achievements, how 
unforgotten his whole personality, stand before our 
eyes. 

" I believe that his spirit mingles to-day with his 
people, and assuredly it must have visited his battle- 
scarred veterans and banners. We recall him in his 
humility, his plain simplicity, and his unflinching re- 
gard for duty. We recall him as the son of that match- 
less, lovely queen, and as the one who said that he 
had learned more by his humiliations than by all his 
triumphs. 

*' For us, my beloved relatives and princes, his 
memory shall be a renewed spur to live and to toil for 
our peoples, to join in reaching, as he did, the goal of 
advancing civilization and of assured peace. ..." 

At the banquet which was given in honor of the 
Kaiser, on September i, 1897, in the old "Burg" of 
Nuremberg, whose keepers for the old German emper- 
ors were the Hohenzollerns during the early Middle 
Ages, the Prince-Regent Luitpold of Bavaria, referring 
to the successful manoeuvres of the two Bavarian 

147 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

army corps, and in the presence of King Humbert of 
Italy and a number of German sovereigns, said a few 
words of welcome as host. He spoke, among other 
things, of the humble origin of the Hohenzollern dy- 
nasty. The Kaiser replied to this in a happy vein, 
saying : 

'' . . . At last it was permitted me to see with my 
own eyes this splendid, ancient, and thoroughly Ger- 
man city, and to sojourn in this old stronghold, for 
centuries the bulwark which my ancestors, in tried and 
proven fidelity, kept for the German emperors. And 
it is with special reverence I regard these walls when I 
recall the fact that it is precisely in Nuremberg and in 
this very spot that the most intimate relations between 
the houses of Wittelsbach^ and of Hohenzollern were 
knit. As good friends and comrades the young bur- 
grave and the young Wittelsbach rode together in 
the retinue of the German Kaiser, to fight the good 
fight for Emperor and empire. It was the Emperor 
Henry VII. who knighted my own ancestor, Frederick 
IV., and the young Bavarian, subsequently Emperor 
Louis, while in camp near Rome, and this same an- 
cestor of mine afterwards did yeoman's service in 
fighting faithfully at the battle of Miihldorf, helping 
the forebear of your Royal Highness to fasten the 
crown on his head. As a Nuremberger, therefore, and 
as burgrave, I venture to render hearty thanks to your 
Royal Highness, and to express the wish that the 
Almighty may stretch out His beneficent hand over 
your Royal Highness and over your whole house." 

After his return from Palestine, on November 25, 
1898, the Kaiser stopped on the way home in Munich 

*The Wittelsbach house is the Bavarian dynasty. — Ed. 

148 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN RULERS 

and effected a compromise in a bitter controversy 
which had broken out relative to the estabhshment 
of a supreme miUtary court, with jurisdiction over the 
whole of the empire. This settled amicably a matter 
about which the Bavarian press and people had be- 
come much wrought up, and the waves of Borusso- 
phobia once more calmed down in Bavaria. 

On September 8, 1899, the Kaiser, after reviewing 
the Baden contingent of the army at Forchheim, visit- 
ed the Grand-duke of Baden once more in Carlsruhe, 
and replied to a toast, saying: 

" . . . It was granted to the great Kaiser to find, 
after trials and probationary work lasting many years, 
those German princes whose hearts glowed with en- 
thusiasm for the grand cause, and who held up his 
hands and helped him. The safest cement for the 
cohesion of the fatherland is joint and intelligent col- 
laboration and the blood which has been shed in a 
common cause on the field of battle." 

When, on June 23, 1900, Grand-duke Peter of Olden- 
burg died, and his son, August, succeeded him, the 
Kaiser sent a condoling message and hastened to the 
obsequies. 

On the death of Duke Alfred of Saxe-Coburg, brother 
of King Edward of England, on July 30, 1900, the 
Kaiser wired from off Heligoland, on board the Hohen- 
zollern, messages of condolence and an order to his 
navy, in which he spoke with high appreciation of the 
lively interest which the deceased had taken in the 
development of the German navy. 

The Kaiser was prevented from personally attend- 
ing the festivities in Munich incident to the completed 
eightieth year of life of the Prince- Regent Luitpold of 
Bavaria, he being sadly disfigured at the time by an 

149 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

injury to his eye and cheek, owing to a heavy piece 
of iron flung at him by a lunatic in Bremen. But 
he did not fail to telegraph congratulations, and to 
send the Crown-prince in his own stead. 

Quite recently the Kaiser once more incurred the ill- 
will of the Bavarian people, owing to the fact that he 
offered, out of his own purse, to make good the de- 
ficiency in the Bavarian budget in the matter of an 
annual stipend for the encouragement of art in that 
country, which the Clericals there had rejected for 
party purposes. The Bavarian press raged for many 
weeks, and told the Kaiser plainly to keep his hands 
off Bavarian internal affairs. In his relations with the 
Bavarian dynasty, however, the incident wrought no 
perceptible change for the worse. 

On April 27, 1901, the Kaiser visited Weimar, where 
the young Grand-duke William Ernst, just attained to 
the throne, welcomed him, and the Kaiser replied in a 
neat speech, dwelling on the blood relationship with his 
family, and on the permanent influence for good upon 
German literature and science which the little grand- 
duchy had had in Germany. 

On the fiftieth anniversary of the reign of the 
Grand-duke Frederick of Baden, which fell on April 
26, 1902, the Kaiser again delivered himself of a fine 
address, in which he did ample justice to his uncle as 
a ruler and man. 

On June 16, 1902, the semi -centenary of the Ger- 
manic Museum in Nuremberg took place, and the 
imperial couple, as well as several German sovereigns 
and many scientists, attended. The Kaiser spoke in 
his happiest vein on that occasion, giving, in terse and 
graphic style, a rapid survey of Germanic culture and 
political development. 

Three days later, June 19th, King Albert of Saxony 
died after a lingering illness. The Kaiser happened to 

150 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN RULERS 

be away on an extensive tour in the Rhine country, 
but while in Wesel, on the 21st, he paid his Hfe-long 
friend and mentor a glowing tribute in a speech de- 
livered to the citizens of that ancient town on the lower 
Rhine. He then postponed his promised visit to the 
Dusseldorf Exposition, and hastened to Dresden to 
participate in the funeral ceremonies. 

Thus it will be seen that the Kaiser systematically, 
studiously, and skilfully has seized upon every chance 
to render first the complicated and rather delicate 
relations existing between him as Kaiser and as King 
of Prussia and the German sovereigns as intimate and 
friendly as possible, and then to keep them so. The 
task is one requiring great tact, patience, and vigilance, 
and in the main he has been amazingly successful, 
certainly in a far higher degree than his grandfather 
ever was. It is a task, too, which takes up a relatively 
large portion of his time and energies, but it was worth 
all it cost in that, for on a close understanding and on 
full and mutual confidence between the Kaiser and the 
other German sovereigns, his ''colleagues," depends, 
indeed, in large measure the coherence of the empire 
as a whole. 



X 

THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

His exceedingly intimate relations with it — Rejuvenation 
process — His letter to Moltke — The Kaiser's attempts to up- 
root extravagance in the army — Partial reorganization and 
enlargement of the army — A telegram praising the Poles of 
Prussia — His speeches to the recruits — The Kaiser's charac- 
terization of the socialists — His decree to limit duelling in 
the army — His conception of a "good soldier " — Calling the 
army "the most important legacy left" by his grandfather 
— Reviving military traditions — His order prohibiting gam- 
ing and usury in the army — Beginning the century a year in 
advance — The peculiar class spirit bred in the army by the 
Kaiser — Revolutionary reminiscences. 

It needs, indeed, no emphasizing of the fact that the 
German army and his relations with it mean much for 
the Kaiser. Whether his estimate of its importance to 
him and to the existence of the empire is a just one, or 
whether he attaches an exaggerated value to it, is a 
mooted question. At any rate, his estimate of it has 
been recorded by himself on many occasions, and one 
of his main efforts, and the most persistent and un- 
bending one, has been ever since his accession to keep 
this mighty instrument and token of sovereign power 
not only in as good a condition as his grandfather left it, 
but steadily to render it stronger and more trenchant. 
He has not only doubled it in size, but he has improved 
in many ways on the original, introducing reforms and 
innovations, and encouraging a more warlike spirit in 
rank and file. 

152 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

On February 8, 1888, the Reichstag had passed, with 
singular unanimity, the army increase bill, the leader 
of the Ultramontane Centre party. Baron Franken- 
stein, in answer to one of Bismarck's most eloquent and 
forceful speeches, relinquishing the right of debate to 
facilitate and hasten its adoption. The old Emperor, 
William L, lay dying, and his last hours were made 
more peaceful by the nation's patriotic attitude, for 
such prompt and self-sacrificing action augured well 
for Germany's success in a new war, if war it was to be, 
of which at that time there seemed to be little doubt. 
It was known that an understanding existed between 
Alexander III. and France, and Russia's armies stood, 
in concentrated hosts, massed and ready for action on 
the German frontier. 

Within a few months after this the imperial and the 
Prussian throne had been twice vacated and twice re- 
filled, and the influence of these rapid changes upon the 
German army had been quite palpable. 

Even during the brief three months' reign of the Em- 
peror Frederick a number of changes had been wrought. 
The cuirassier regiments were ordered to doff their 
heavy and impractical steel coats; the entire cavalry 
had to adopt the lance as a weapon of war ; a new drill 
regulation was decreed, and many alterations were 
made in the rules about garrison service. Many other 
innovations were set afoot. 

Both of the new Kaisers rapidly reorganized the 
corps of officers in the army. During the remainder 
of the year 1888 — i. e., within nine months after the 
death of William I. — no fewer than 65 generals and 156 
staff-officers were retired. Of the 14 army corps under 
Prussian direction, 8 received new commanders, of 
33 divisions 22, and of 100 infantry and cavalry bri- 
gades 52. On August 3, 1888, Moltke, the senile chief 
and brain of the whole army, also handed in his res- 

153 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

ignation as head of the great general staff, and the 
young Kaiser accepted it, though in the most touching 
and conciHatory form. In Moltke's stead came Count 
Waldersee. The Kaiser said in his letter to the old 
field-marshal : 

" In your letter of the 3d inst. you indicate, with a 
lucidity and unselfishness which have illumined your 
whole life, the necessity of a resolve whose justice I un- 
fortunately dare not dispute, yet whose meaning is so 
far-reaching and weighty that I can only partially ac- 
cede to your request. ... I cannot miss your counsel so 
long as you are alive, and I must retain you in the 
army, which will always look up to you with unlimited 
confidence. ..." 

The Kaiser, therefore, while granting the request of 
the ninety-year-old hero to take off his shoulders the 
burden and grave responsibility of his position as active 
chief of the great general staff, imposed upon his suc- 
cessor in that ofhce the duty of advising with and 
seeking the counsel of the aged Count Moltke at 
every important step, and intrusted to him the 
chairmanship of the commission for national de- 
fence. 

When Moltke soon after celebrated his ninetieth birth- 
day, amid national rejoicings, the Kaiser presented him 
with a diamond-incrusted field-marshal's baton, a per- 
fect work of art and valued at twenty-five thousand 
dollars, and conferred special honors on him. In the 
presence of the generals of the whole German army and 
of a number of princes and sovereigns, he addressed 
the veteran with every mark of conspicuous venera- 
tion, and ordered, as a sign of the highest favor of his 
Hege, that the bullet-torn and powder-singed banners 
of the guard corps be left that day in Moltke's ante- 

154 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

chamber, a prerogative at all other times solely inher- 
ent in the monarch. 

On April 25, 1891, late in the evening, the old field- 
marshal died a calm and painless death, and the Kaiser, 
who was absent in Weimar, wired to the family: 

'' The blow has dazed me. Am hastening back home. 
Please consult, meanwhile, Hahnke ^ about funeral ar- 
rangements. Have lost an army in him, and cannot 
yet comprehend it. William I. R." 

The day after the Kaiser issued a cabinet order, in 
which he spoke of the ''irretrievable loss which my 
army and the whole German fatherland have suffered," 
and in which he pithily characterized the deceased in 
these words : 

"Till the last breath the deceased has served, in 
modest simplicity, in unselfish fulfilment of duty, and 
in unswerving fidelity, my glorious sires and myself, 
and has earned imperishable merits for the renown of 
the army and the fatherland's welfare, by his match- 
less capacity and his brilliant achievements, in victo- 
rious wars as well as during the calm of peace. The 
country's gratitude will ever follow him." 

On the Kaiser's birthday, January 27, 1889, he con- 
ferred, as a token of special satisfaction and confidence, 
distinctive appellations, chosen from the names of 
famous Prussian generals, upon a number of regiments 
and battalions. On that day, too, as he let the army 
know in an ordre du jour, he caused the army ban- 
ners, until then still guarded in the death-chamber of 
the old emperor, William I., to be thence conveyed, 

> Lieutenant-General von Hahnke, chief of the Emperor's private 
military cabinet. — Ed. 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

under appropriate ceremonies, to his own quarters in 
the royal castle in Berlin. The order recited, in terms 
of filial piety, the virtues and deeds of his grand- 
father, and called upon the entire army to emulate 
them. 

The famous dragoon regiment "Schwedt" com- 
memorated, on April 24, 1889, the bicentenary of its 
existence, and the Kaiser delivered himself of an ad- 
dress in which he reminded the regiment of its glorious 
past, and specially of the great day at Kollin, when, 
under Frederick the Great's command, it had greatly 
distinguished itself. 

During the luncheon given the Kaiser by the officers 
of the King's Uhlan Regiment in Hanover, on Decem- 
ber 13, 1889, the monarch said, among other things: 

"... Times have changed. Nowadays it is neces- 
sary for the cavalry to fight with other weapons. This 
regiment has materially aided in effecting a remodel- 
ling and a modification in the armament of the entire 
cavalry, the lance being added. Again and again the 
reports which I called for from the army on that 
score mentioned with particular praise the splendid 
achievements which this regiment attained with the 
lance during the last great campaign. . . . Your reg- 
iment may justly be proud of the fact that it has 
quasi served as the model for our entire cavalry. . . . 
In the hope that the regiment will show the same 
dash and valor when it again meets the foe, I raise my 
glass and shout: My regiment — long may it live and 
flourish!" 

On February 15, 1890, the Kaiser issued a cabinet 
order dealing with an abuse of power which had for 
some time crept into the army. It was addressed to 
the Minister of War, and said: 

156 



. THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

". . . In my army every soldier is to be treated 
according to law, justly and humanely. Only thus 
is it possible to inspire him with zeal and devotion to 
duty and love and respect for his superiors." 

This order had been directly occasioned by the fact 
that Prince George of Saxony, in his capacity of mili- 
tary inspector of a large part of the Prussian army, had 
remarked the prevalence of cruel and brutal treat- 
ment of soldiers by their superiors, especially by the 
subaltern and non-commissioned officers, and had 
drawn the Kaiser's attention to the fact in his reports. 
The Kaiser's repeated directions have, however, not 
done away with this evil, as many trials and incidents 
in the recent past have proven. 

Even more sensational was another cabinet order of 
the Kaiser's, dated March 29, 1890, which dealt with 
another evil become very noticeable in the German 
army. The document read: 

"Not alone nobility of birth can to-day, as it did 
formerly, exclusively entitle to the prerogative of fur- 
nishing the officers for my army. But the nobility 
of character, which has at all times distinguished our 
officers, must be, now more than ever, insisted upon in 
such appointments. And that is only possible if the 
aspirants for officers' places are taken solely from 
those strata of the population with whom nobility of 
character and a high conception of life are at home. 
Next to the scions of noble families of the country, 
and next to the sons of my honorable officers and 
officials, who form, in accord with ancient tradition, 
the corner-stone and fundamental pillars of my corps 
of officers, I consider that the future of my army rests 
also on the sons of such estimable citizen families 
with whom the reverence for king and fatherland, a 

157 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

cordial appreciation of the soldier's profession, and 
Christian culture are nurtured and cherished. . . . 

"... I disapprove of making entrance into the 
corps of army officers conditional on exorbitantly high 
home allowances, which would exclude the sons of 
families but moderately blessed with worldly goods, 
but in similarity of conceptions and sympathies closely 
kin to my corps of officers. . . . 

" . . . I strongly disapprove the idea that any 
officer in my army is to be estimated according to the 
size of the allowance granted him from home. On 
the contrary, I rank in my mind those regiments the 
highest whose officers know how to do their full duty, 
joyously and with alacrity, and who nevertheless 
receive but modest allowances from their families. 
This is in accord with old Prussian traditions. . . . 

"... I desire with all my heart that my officers, 
duty done, enjoy life. But the growing luxury in the 
army must be opposed seriously and persistently." ^ 

During 1890 the strength of the German army on 
a peace footing was again increased. The warlike 
clouds on the horizon, especially in the direction of 
Russia and France, made this necessary. The Kaiser 
pointed this out in his speech from the throne on the 
opening of the Reichstag, May 6th. The nation's rep- 
resentatives acted promptly on the hint, and on Oc- 
tober ist of the same year the new order of things 
went into effect. 

After a parade of the 5th Army Corps, at Liegnitz, on 
September 15th, the Kaiser dwelt in a speech on the 
historical reminiscences which the locality awakened, 



' The salaries and other perqui- 
sites paid to all German officers 
below the rank of colonel are so 
low that the possession of a pri- 
vate fortune, a wealthy wife, or a 



regular and assured money allow- 
ance from the family, varying be- 
tween twenty and one hundred 
dollars per month, is absolutely 
essential. — Ed. 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

Field-marshal Bliicher having won a great battle over 
the French there in 1813; and then, turning to one of 
the regiments present, the Grenadiers King William 
L, he said, referring to its splendid record* in recent 
campaigns : 

'' Particularly must I mention one* day, the day of 
Weissenburg,^ where the regiment had the satisfaction 
of fighting against a brave foe, one who defended him- 
self desperately, and to take his almost impregnable 
positions by storm and thus win the engagement. It 
was there where the regiment, under the eyes of my 
father, received its first grand baptism of fire, and 
where my father had the sad joy to catch in his arms 
Major von Kaisenberg, mortally wounded, and to im- 
print on his dying lips a kiss of parting. 

"These are incidents which are recorded in our his- 
tory in imperishable characters, and especially in the 
history of this regiment and of this corps. 

"I trust that the spirit, the discipline, and the 
devotion by which this corps shone during the last 
wars will again shine forth in later times, in war as in 
peace. ..." 

New banners and standards were given the newly 
created regiments in the following year, 1891, and on 
April 1 8th the ceremony of nailing these symbols to 
their staffs was performed by the Kaiser at the royal 
castle in Berlin. On that day he said : 

''Pro gloria et patria. That is the superscription of 
the day. It is a day of reminiscence and of patriotic 
sentiment, of courage and of confidence, which never 
have forsaken Prussia and her army. 

' At the opening of the war of 1870-71. — Ed. 
I5Q 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

" If I speak to-day for our whole country, it is because 
I recall that three hundred and seventy years ago, 
on another i8th of April, that fearless Wittenberg 
monk spoke his great words : ' Here I stand, I cannot 
do otherwise, so help me God !' And the first who took 
an interest in the undaunted monk was a man of war, 
Georg Frundsberg, who shouted to him : ' Monklin, 
monklin, thou'rt on a desperate errand!' But God 
blessed this errand of his, for the good of our nation, 
and particularly of our part of it. 

" Many a similar errand have our nation and our house 
and with it the Prussian army done. The i8th of April 
has always been rife with meaning for us. On April 
1 8, 141 7, Burgrave Frederick I. received the Mark 
Brandenburg as an imperial fief. On April 18, 1864, 
Prince Frederick Charles led the Prussian and the Aus- 
trian troops against a brave foe at Diippeln, and fur- 
nished them the opportunity to wrest these fortifica- 
tions away from the valorous adversary. . . . The soldier 
and the army, and not parliamentary majorities nor 
parliamentary resolutions, have welded together the 
German Empire. My trust is in the army. The times 
are serious, those in which we live, and dark days per- 
haps await us in the years to come. But against that 
I put the words of my late grandfather in the pres- 
ence of the officers in Coblentz : * These are the gentle- 
men,' he said, * on whom I can rely.' That is likewise 
my faith and my trust. And whatever may happen, 
we will hold untarnished our traditions and our flag, 
mindful of the saying of Albrecht Achilles,^ ' I know of 
no more reputable spot to die in than in the midst of 
my foes.' That, too, is what my heart tells me, and 
therein lies my unshakable confidence : in the fidelity, 
the courage, and the devotion of my army." 

* Albrecht Achilles, one of the ablest of the HohenzoUern mar- 
graves of Brandenburg. — Ed, 

160 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

At the jubilee of the one hundred and fiftieth anni- 
versary of the engineer battaUon No. 3, at Torgau, on 
November 25, 1891, the Kaiser made a speech in which 
he mentioned that one of his own mihtary instructors, 
Lieutenant-Colonel Diener, had been of that branch of 
the service, and had come from that very battalion, 
and then continued : 

''The spirit of the battalion is the good old Prussian 
one. It is my desire and my hope that this will remain 
so. . . . Recent developments in the art of war demand 
a new technique in the construction of fortifications. 
You must keep your eyes on that goal, firmly, steadfast- 
ly, and without preconceived opinions. I do not doubt 
that if the time should come again for the battalion to 
do deeds as at Schweidnitz, Diippel, and Alsen, it will 
add new laurels to the wreath of warlike glories encir- 
cling the Prussian army. And the heroism of Klinke ^ 
and his comrades, some of whom still belong to the en- 
gineer department, has become the model and the sym- 
bol for the later generations of the battalion. ..." 



The continuation of rather strained relations with 
Russia and France, and Germany's anxiety that these 
two powers were steadily moving in the direction of an 
offensive war with her, in which the young empire 
would have to face, single-handed, these two formidable 
military powers, were understood to be the reason why 
in 1892 another bill was framed by the Kaiser's advisers 
and introduced into the Reichstag — a bill providing for 



* While storming the Diippel 
fortifications, during the war 
with Denmark in 1863-64, a 
private of the engineer corps 
named Klinke blew up a palisade 
that retarded the progress of the 
storming columns, and belong- 



ing to Bastion No. 2, by pushing 
a sack of powder under it and 
then igniting it. By this deed 
he deliberately sacrificed his life. 
This was one of the most pict- 
uresque and thrilling incidents of 
that war. — Ed, 



161 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

another increase in Germany's army. The new im- 
perial chancellor, General Count Caprivi, on the 27th 
of November of that year stated before the Reichstag 
the government's reasons for presenting this bill; but 
five days earlier, in his speech from the throne, the 
Kaiser himself had rather tersely put the case to the 
delegates. Without being downright bellicose, it was 
calculated to create alarm and to rouse German patri- 
otic spirit. He said: 

"... The development of the military forces of other 
European countries makes it our serious, nay, impera- 
tive, duty promptly to take measures looking to the 
increase of our own defensive powers. . . . The allied 
governments present to you, therefore, for acceptance 
a bill which, while containing provisions for an increase 
of our peace strength, will enable us fully to utilize our 
armed forces. In so doing they do not undervalue the 
sacrifice which you are expected to make in behalf 
of the nation, but, with me, they trust that the vital 
necessity of this sacrifice will be recognized more and 
more generally, and that the patriotism of our people 
will make them willing to assume those burdens which 
the honor and safety of the fatherland demand. . . . 

"Gentlemen, in inviting you to begin your sessions, 
I do so knowing that it needs no special urging to con- 
duct the debates in a manner compatible with your love 
of country. The firm will of the nation to preserve the 
inheritance left it by our fathers, to safeguard peace, 
and to maintain those sacred trusts confided to our be- 
loved country, will lead you, I am quite confident, into 
the paths designated by me and my august allies. If 
that be done, the empire will be able to proceed calmly 
on its way, trusting in God and in its own strength." 

However, this time the passage of the new military 

162 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

increase bill was no easy matter. There were stormy 
scenes in the Reichstag, and it looked like a foregone 
conclusion that the opposition would be strong enough, 
on mustering its adherents, to defeat the measure in 
the end. On New Year's Day, 1893, the Kaiser, at the 
customary reception given by him to the generals of the 
army, spoke very sharply about proceedings in the 
Reichstag. He used the term that he "would crush 
the opposition." At the final vote on the bill. May 6th, 
it was rejected by two hundred and ten against one 
hundred and sixty- two. Thereupon the Kaiser dis- 
solved the obstreperous body and appealed to the coun- 
try. The election took place in the middle of the fol- 
lowing month. Meanwhile, however, three days after 
the dissolution of the Reichstag, the Kaiser, after an 
inspection of a large body of troops on the Tempelhof 
field, near Berlin, spoke to his generals and staff officers 
about his disappointment, saying he hoped for the pas- 
sage of the bill by a new Reichstag, concluding: 

" But if this hope should be deceived, I am resolved 
to do all that is humanly possible in order to attain 
my end. For I am fully convinced that this military 
increase bill must be adopted if we are to maintain 
peace. ... I know that I am in this matter of one mind 
with the other sovereign rulers of Germany, with the 
people, and with the army." 

The election, however, went favorably to the Kaiser's 
wishes, and the newly chosen delegates passed the bill 
on July 15th, even the Polish delegates voting for it. 
To the leader of the Poles, De Koscielski, the Kaiser 
sent a telegram of thanks, saying: 

*' I thank you and your countrymen for your fidelity 
towards me and my house. Let it be a model for all." 

163 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

The Italian Crown -prince, now King Victor Em- 
manuel, witnessed the great fall manoeuvres of the Ger- 
man army that year, and after a brilliant parade, in 
honor of Sedan Day, on September 2, 1893, near Treves, 
the distinguished guests and their host went by rail to 
Coblentz, where, at the banquet, the Kaiser made a 
speech, in which he dwelt with emphasis and at some 
length on the life and the long residence in Coblentz of 
his grandmother, the Empress Augusta. One of the 
passages, reverting to the outbreak of the war of 1870, 
was as follows: 

"... I distinctly recall the day you marched forth. 
With eyes wet with tears, and with her blessing, she 
dismissed you and called to the officers that no matter 
what might happen, they were always to feel and con- 
duct themselves as her sons. And when the regiment, 
on the evening of the bloody day of St. Privat, after 
a dearly purchased victory, had left three-fourths of 
its officers slain or wounded on the battle-field, those 
who had remained alive sent to her Majesty, for them- 
selves and for those now lying dead, the message 
that they had been faithful to their oath and pledge 
as sons of their mother, and that they had done their 
duty. . . ." 

Some characteristic utterances were made by the 
Kaiser on October 18, 1894, when the ceremony of the 
nailing and religious dedication of the one hundred and 
thirty-two new flags and standards made necessary by 
the army increase took place. It was done in the Hall 
of Glories, in Berlin, the day being further memorable 
as the anniversary of the birth of his father, the Em- 
peror Frederick. He spoke of his ancestor Frederick 
the Great, and then passed on to the time of 186 1. He 
said : 

164 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

"Just as then, in 1861, when my grandfather set 
about the task of reorganizing the army, he was misun- 
derstood by many, and opposed by still more, yet was 
justified by those who came later; as then, so now, 
discord and distrust rule among the people. The only 
pillar on which our empire rested was the army. And 
so to-day. ..." 

Another military address of his which was severely 
criticised was the one to the recruits, on having the 
oath of obedience administered to them, November 15, 
1894. He remarked: 

" After the oath you have just sworn, I salute you as 
my soldiers. If you want to become good soldiers you 
must become good Christians and must have religion 
in your hearts. As soldiers of my guards you are now 
wearing a uniform specially honoring you. Do not for- 
get that you wear the coat of your king. Honor that 
coat, and keep in mind that you have been deemed 
worthy to discharge your service before my eyes, and 
that by entering the army you have become nobles. 
Now gaze upon the flags in front of you, each connected 
with a glorious page in your country's history. Do not 
allow them to be slandered. Remember the statues 
of the kings and military chiefs which now look down 
upon you. Remember the oath you have sworn. Then 
you will be good soldiers. Do not forget that you are 
chosen for defenders of the fatherland, and that it is 
your duty to protect order and religion in the land. 
And now go and discharge your service taught you at 
my orders." 

During 1895 the quarter-century anniversaries of the 
various battles that occurred during the war of 1870-71 
were kept with more or less military pageant and splen- 

165 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

dor. The battle of St. Privat, one of the most impor- 
tant and hard -fought of all, was commemorated on 
August 15 th by the Kaiser by a gala parade of the 
first brigade of the guards. He said to them : 

"... The colors of my house shall henceforth fly be- 
fore the regiment, as a renewed warning to keep your 
sworn faith with me and mine, as you have hitherto 
always done. . . . 

'' . . . And should it be again required of you to go, 
as part of my army, to protect the boundaries of the 
fatherland, I count on it that the first brigade of the 
guards will fight with the same devotion and fidel- 
ity which it showed at St. Privat, twenty - five years 
ago." 

On the Tempelhof field, on August 19th, the Kaiser 
reviewed fourteen thousand veterans of the war, and 
then spoke to them in stirring, patriotic fashion. 

Sedan Day was, of course, likewise kept on Septem- 
ber 2d, the whole guard corps, twenty - five thousand 
strong, parading in the presence of the Kaiser and of 
his chief guest. King Albert of Saxony, as well as of 
King WilHam II. of Wurtemberg. At the banquet the 
Kaiser spoke at some length. 

He reviewed in graphic, pregnant sentences the days 
that had led up to the downfall of Napoleon IIL at 
Sedan, and then said : 

"... Bravely the foe battled for his laurels. For 
his Emperor, too, and for his glorious past, fought he 
with the courage of despair. For his all, his hearth 
and home, and for national consolidation, fought the 
German. Hence, too, it touches us to the quick that 
every one who has worn the Emperor's coat in those 
days or who still wears it, is specially honored by the 

166 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

nation when this memorial day comes around once 
more: one single, upflaming rush of gratitude for 
Emperor William I. ! And for us, in particular for us 
younger ones, the task is to preserve what the Emperor 
founded, what he won. 

"But into the mighty current of joy and elation a 
tone obtrudes itself which surely has no place there. 
A horde of men, unworthy to bear the name of Ger- 
mans, dares to slander the German people, dares to be- 
smirch the sacred person of the universally venerated 
old Emperor. May the people in their might find the 
strength to repel such unheard-of attacks ! ^ If it is not 
done — well, I will call upon you, in defence against this 
traitorous throng, to wage a war which will rid us of 
such elements." 

This speech, delivered before the representatives of 
the empire and of the army, wound up with a toast to 
the guard corps, and to its leader in 1870-71, King Al- 
bert of Saxony. 

At the memorial celebration on account of the battle 
of Le Bourget, held by the sharp-shooters' battalion of 
the Guards, on October 30th, the Kaiser spoke of the 
work done by his grandfather in implanting in the 
German army 

"... the three cardinal virtues of the soldier: the 
sentiment of honor, blind and unquestioning obedience, 
and a courage superior to all difficulties. If this be 
further maintained in this battalion — nay, in the whole 



'This singular speech, it seems, 
was occasioned by an article in 
the main socialist organ, the Vor- 
wdrts, that morning, in which the 
prevailing style of adulation in 
reference to the late Emperor 
William I., su-ch as the Kaiser 



himself had particularly culti- 
vated for some time, was con- 
demned, and the merits of that 
monarch in respect of national 
unity, etc., critically examined, 
though in a rather malevolent 
spirit. — Ed. 



167 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

army — we can face with equanimity every situation 
which may arise in the future." 

The Kaiser's own cuirassier regiment, in Breslau, 
kept on December 2d the battle-day of Loigny, and on 
that occasion again the monarch attended. He said in 
his speech that it had given him great pleasure that all 
through the empire during the past five months the 
memory of the army's great achievements in the last 
war had not been permitted to die out, but that the 
rank and file of the army, as well as the whole nation, 
had shown an admirable and unanimous enthusiasm in 
recalling those heroic days. Then he continued: 

"... And the more catch-phrases and party consid- 
erations are allowed to interfere with this, the more I 
rely and count upon my army, and the more decidedly 
do I hope that my army will promptly obey the slight- 
est of my wishes and commands, whether it be against 
internal or external foes. . . .'* 

On September 7, 1896, the Czar and the Kaiser met 
in Breslau, and on an immense neighboring plain, the 
Moyser field, a gala parade of the Prussian 5th Army 
Corps took place in the presence of these two monarchs, 
and of a large number of smaller sovereigns and dis- 
tinguished personages of every kind. At the banquet 
which was subsequently given in Gorlitz, the Kaiser 
referred in a flattering manner to his guest, the Czar, 
saying : 

"... Because of the presence to-day of his Majesty 
the Czar of Russia, it was a special pleasure to me to 
review this corps in such excellent condition. . . . He, 
the commander-in-chief of the mightiest armies, yet 
desires to employ his troops solely in the service of civ- 

i68 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

ilization and for the safeguarding of peace. In perfect 
accord with myself, his purpose is to bring all the na- 
tions of Europe closer together, and to consoHdate them 
for the defence of our most sacred possessions on the 
basis of our common interests. ..." 

On New Year's Day, 1897, the Kaiser issued a cabinet 
order the professed purpose of which was to restrain 
and reduce the prevalence of the duelling custom in 
army circles. In it he said: 

''I demand that stricter preventive measures be 
adopted in regard to duelling between my officers. The 
causes leading to them are often of a trivial nature, 
such as private controversies and such offensive re- 
marks as might be amicably adjusted without reflect- 
ing on professional honor. 

'' Officers must be brought to see that it is wrong to 
infringe on the honor of another. If he has acted in 
haste or in momentary excitement, he acts but hon- 
orably by admitting himself in the wrong, and offering 
to settle the matter in friendly fashion. And not less 
is it proper for him who has met with an injury, or who 
has been offended, to accept the hand of reconcilia- 
tion, in so far as professional honor and good-breed- 
ing admit. 

"It is, therefore, my will that councils of honor 
henceforth co-operate in the settlement of affairs of 
honor. Such councils are to discharge this duty with 
a conscientious effort to bring about an amicable 
understanding." 

The effect of this order has not been as great as the 
German Liberal press at the time expected, but it has 
borne at least some fruit, since the number of duels in 
the army has somewhat decreased of late years. 

169 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

At the centenary celebration of the King Grenadiers 
at Liegnitz, June i6, 1897, the Kaiser spoke to the 
corps of officers, in the regimental barracks, about the 
historical occasions on which the regiment had distin- 
guished itself, and commended especially the soldierly 
spirit which had always characterized it. Then he 
added : 

"... This spirit, and I trust you will nourish and pre- 
serve it, exists also, God be praised ! in the whole army, 
and the more it will be cultivated the more efficient the 
army will be and remain. For the chief strength of the 
army is the power and force of tradition, and tradition 
lives with unusual potency in this regiment. It is the 
force of tradition which, in peace as on the field of bat- 
tle, makes the heart beat faster for king and father- 
land, and which inspires it to deeds of glory. ..." 

At the big Kaiser manoeuvres in Homburg, Septem- 
ber 4, 1897, which were also attended by the Duke of 
Cambridge, the King of Italy, and a number of German 
sovereigns, the Kaiser made a political speech, lauding 
the Triple Alliance as a guarantee of peace. 

Facing the historic monument of Frederick the Great 
in Berlin, sixty-three new flags were handed over, with 
impressive ceremonies, to the commanders and delega- 
tions of the new regiments, on October 17, 1897, the an- 
niversary of the great battle of Leipzig, marking the 
first downfall of Napoleon I. The Kaiser spoke in a 
patriotic vein, concluding as follows: 

"... May these new regiments perpetuate the chief 
characteristics of our great Kaiser: unselfish devotion 
to the whole, and the full employment of all faculties, 
body and soul, for the glory of the army and the safety 
of the beloved fatherland. ..." 

170 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

To the recruits of the large Potsdam garrison, on 
November i6, 1897, in administering the military oath, 
the Kaiser said: 

''Whoever is no thorough Christian is no thorough 
man. Neither is he a good Prussian soldier, and he 
cannot fulfil all those requirements which are made of 
him as a soldier in the Prussian army. For your duties 
are no easy ones. They demand self-denial and self- 
control, the highest Christian virtues. They demand 
absolute obedience and subordination under the will of 
your superiors." 

At the completion of the first ten years of his reign, 
on June 15, 1898, the Kaiser assembled all his body 
troops in the royal park of Potsdam, the Lustgarten, 
and said to them: 

" The most important legacy left me by my grand- 
father and father is the army, and with joy and pride 
have I accepted it. To the army my first decree was 
issued on ascending the throne. To the army I now 
again address myself on entering upon the second de- 
cennium of my reign. . . . 

*' Rarely, I believe, has so trying a time passed over 
the head of a ruler as over mine during these last ten 
years — I, who saw my grandfather and father die, to 
my deep sorrow, within so short a space of time. With 
grave anxiety I placed the crown upon my head. 
Everywhere I met doubt, and the whole world mis- 
judged me. But one had confidence in me ; but one 
believed in me — that was the army. And relying upon 
the army, and trusting in God, I began my reign, know- 
ing well that the army is the main tower of strength for 
my country, the main pillar supporting the Prussian 
throne, to which God in His wisdom had called me. . . . 

171 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

" We will continue to work together for the next ten 
years, bound to each other in the same faith, fulfilling 
our duty with the same absolute fidelity and with 
never-slackening toil. And may the foundation of our 
army remain unshaken: courage, honor, and unques- 
tioning, iron, blind obedience. That is the wish I ad- 
dress to-day to you and to the whole army." 

At the outset of the succeeding year, 1899, the Kaiser 
deemed it wise to order the revival of the traditional 
names, customs, and some separate soldierly peculiar- 
ities which had formerly existed within the regiments 
of the provinces of Hanover and Hesse - Cassel, and 
which had been wiped out when these provinces were 
annexed to Prussia in 1866 and their contingents in- 
corporated with the Prussian army. In the army order 
of January 24th the Kaiser gave his reasons for in- 
stituting these changes, and on Waterloo Square, in 
the city of Hanover, surrounded by the officers of 
the loth (the Hanoverian) Army Corps, he addressed 
them. At the luncheon which followed in the officers' 
casino of the Prince Albrecht Fusileers, the Kaiser 
pointed out that his main motive in restoring the 
''traditions" of the Hanoverian contingent was his 
abiding faith in the efficacy of traditions in the differ- 
ent parts of an army. 

A similarly worded order reached the nth (Hessian) 
Army Corps. 

A highly sensational trial, in which a number of pro- 
fessional usurers and their — in some cases highly con- 
nected — accomplices were criminally prosecuted and 
convicted, and in which scores of army officers were in- 
volved, a series of high-life scandals growing out of it, 
had laid bare one of the worst failings in the German 
army — the prevalence of indebtedness to " army usu- 
rers" and the imclean practices in vogue with them. 

172 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

The Kaiser, therefore, on February 23, 1899, issued the 
following order to the army: 

'' Late occurrences have shown me again the fre- 
quency of dishonest but alluring offers made by pro- 
fessional money-lenders to the officers of my army. 
The carelessness of youth, and inexperience in finan- 
cial affairs, bring it about that opportunities thus 
offered often mark the first step towards serious em- 
barrassment — nay, worse, complete ruin. I demand 
the use of every means to keep such temptations 
away from my officers. My previous order of July 5, 
1888, must remain before every officer's eyes as the 
expression of my deliberate will. I herewith ordain 
that henceforth each and every officer is bound to 
report to his superiors all offers of shady money trans- 
actions which shall reach him. ..." 

On the anniversary of Waterloo, June 18, 1899, the 
Kaiser received in Kiel, on board the Hohenzollern, a 
delegation of former Hanoverian army officers, who 
presented him, as a token of their appreciation of his 
January order (alluded to above), a miniature repro- 
duction in silver of the Waterloo column in Hanover. 
The Kaiser replied to their spokesmen at some length, 
diving into reminiscences of the days of Waterloo. He 
invited the delegation to dinner on board his yacht, 
and toasted them and their old comrades as follows : 

*' In perfect accord with the Hanoverian regiments 
who are to-day assembled in their garrisons to cele- 
brate, by my direction, the anniversary of the great 
day of Waterloo, and with my English dragoons, I 
empty this glass to the memory of the old Hanoverian 
army and to the future of my present Hanoverian 
regiments." 

173 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

By the Kaiser's orders the commencement of the 
twentieth century was fixed and celebrated in Ger- 
many on January i, 1900. On that day a miHtary 
divine service was held in the huge inner square of 
the Hall of Glories in Berlin, and at a certain point 
in it the Kaiser addressed the assembled corps of 
officers as follows : 

"The first day of the new century sees our army — 
that is, our nation in arms — grouped around their ban- 
ners, bending the knee to the Lord of hosts. And truly, 
if anybody have special cause to bend down before 
God, it is our army. 

"A glance at our flags here suffices for explanation, 
for they embody our history. How did the dawn of 
the past century find our army? 

'* The glorious soldiers of Frederick the Great had 
fallen asleep on their laurels, ossified in the trivial de- 
tails of a senseless, antiquated drill; led by superan- 
nuated, unready, and unwarlike generals ; their officers 
no longer used to serious work, and degenerated by 
luxury, sloth, and blind self-glorification. In a word, 
the army no longer sufficed for its task. It had for- 
gotten it. Severe was the punishment meted out to it 
by Heaven, a punishment which likewise chastised our 
people. Thrown into the dust were we. Frederick's 
fame paled, and his glorious banners were broken. In 
the seven long years of our hard servitude God taught 
our people to gather new strength. Under the iron 
pressure of the insolent conqueror's heel, our people in 
bitter travail of spirit conceived the high thought that 
it is greatest honor to devote life and property in mil- 
itary service to the fatherland. 

"My great-grandfather gave form and substance to 
this conception. New laurels crowned the new-born 
army and its banners. But it was through my grand- 

174 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

father, our great, our dead Emperor, that general mil- 
itary service became a full, a living reality. In quiet, 
persistent labor he drafted his system of reorganization, 
out of which, despite all opposition which misappre- 
hension caused, grew our army of to-day. Victorious 
campaigns, however, crowned his labors in unexpected 
fulness. 

" His spirit pervaded the rank and file of his armies, 
and his trust in God led them on to matchless victories. 
With this, his own creation, he at length drew together 
again the tribes of Germany, and he gave us back 
longed-for German unity. To him we owe it that 
through this army the German Empire, honored by 
all, once more occupies its destined and appropriate 
position in the council of nations. It is your part, 
gentlemen, to manifest during the new century the old 
qualities by which our sires have made the army great 
and invincible — simplicity and plainness in your style 
of living, absolute devotion to the service of the King, 
fullest utilization of all your strength and gifts, both of 
body and soul, in ceaseless toil for the development and 
drilling of our troops. 

** And as my grandfather did for the army, so, too, I 
mean to continue for my navy, in spite of all discour- 
agement and misconceptions, the work of development, 
in order that the navy shall be, side by side with my 
army, of equal power and strength, and thus achieve 
for the German Empire at home and abroad that posi- 
tion which we as yet have not attained. 

" Jointly with both I hope to be one day in condition, 
trusting fully in the aid of God, to realize the saying of 
Frederick William I. : * If one wishes to decide some- 
thing in this world, it is not the pen alone that will do 
it if unsupported by the power of the sword.' " 

To the whole army the Kaiser issued an ordre du 

175 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

jour, in which he, in picturesque and powerfully stirring 
language, followed about the same train of reasoning. 

At the swearing-in of the recruits in Berlin, on No- 
vember 7, 1900, the Kaiser spoke briefly, again dwell- 
ing, as on former similar occasions, on their dual 
duty — fight and conquer the enemy within and with- 
out. 

Quite sensational were the contents of a speech he 
made to the Emperor Alexander Regiment of the guard 
corps, when, on March 28, 190 1, he personally conduct- 
ed them from their old barracks in a distant part of 
Berlin to their new quarters near the royal castle. The 
press of Berlin had already called attention to the fact 
that the new barracks of this famous regiment had been 
constructed with a solidity of masonry and in a style 
that made it virtually a fortress and almost impreg- 
nable, the outer walls, crenellated on top, resembling 
casemates, and being everywhere loop-holed for the use 
of guns and rifles from within — in a word, very different 
from any other barracks in the city. But the Kaiser's 
address that day, delivered impressively in the cen- 
tre of the huge inner court, capped the climax and 
aroused universal comment throughout Germany. He 
said : 

" Alexandriners, for your regiment a new chapter of 
its history opens with to-day. What you have left 
behind you to-day in memories will take new life here 
— memories of the most beautiful days of peace and 
memories of the hottest days of carnage. Like a pow- 
erful stronghold your new barracks rise in the imme- 
diate vicinity of my castle, whose protection at any and 
all times will be your first prerogative. The Emperor 
Alexander Regiment has been chosen, in a sense, as my 
body-guard, to be ready to sacrifice its life's blood, 
day and night, for the King and his house, whenever 

176 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN ARMY 

you are called upon to do so. And if ever again a time 
should come in this town, as when, in rebellion against 
the King, the rabble rose up,^ I am confident that 
the Alexander Regiment will succeed in energetically 
quenching all such disobedience and improper conduct 
towards their royal master. ..." 



These remarks strikingly illustrate an attitude of the 
Kaiser's mind — namely, so far as the socialist and lib- 
eral radical aspirations in Germany are concerned. He 
is aware of the strong admixture in the rank and file of 
his army of men who hold advanced political views, and 
he tries to keep them in check by completely controlling 
the mental life of his soldiers and by subjecting the so- 
cialists among them to the overweening influence of the 
thoroughly loyal majority of their comrades. Besides, 
he is often roused to fury by the steady growth of 
socialism in numbers and influence, and believes the 
socialist party capable, despite their frequent public 
assurances to the contrary, of inaugurating another 
revolutionary rising in Germany if they are given the 
chance. As the above speech was delivered without 
notes and evidently on the spur of the moment, it ap- 
pears an interesting sample of the inner and uncloaked 
workings of his mind. 

This much, however, is beyond question, that the 
Kaiser had succeeded, during the fifteen years of his 



•The Kaiser refers here to the 
fact that during the Berlin rising 
in 1848, forming an integral part 
of the general and successful rev- 
olutionary movement through- 
out Germany for the obtaining 
of constitutional boundaries to 
monarchic institutions, the Em- 
peror Alexander Regiment was 
one of the few Prussian regiments 
in Berlin which remained firmly 



attached to the royal cause and 
as against the popular cause. It 
was noted for the fierceness with 
which it fought the people dur- 
ing the street and barricade fights 
in Berlin, which lasted for sever- 
al days, and were only ended by 
the order of the Prussian king, 
Frederick William IV., the pres- 
ent, Kaiser's great-uncle, for the 
troops to withdraw. — Ed. 



177 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

reign, in securing a degree of intimacy with his army, 
and of control over its every part, such as no Prussian 
king since the time of Frederick the Great has enjoyed, 
not even excepting his father and grandfather, both 
beloved by the army. 



XI 

THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

Its creation mainly owing to him — His incessant solicitude for 
it — The secret of the Kaiser's thorough knowledge of naval 
affairs — Preparatory studies while still Prince William — 
Expert lectures to his officers — Outlining Germany's naval 
strategy in the event of war — The Kaiser's confessed am- 
bition is to make his navy equally formidable with the army 
— His speeches to the naval recruits — His effective agita- 
tion for a big navy — The Kaiser enlightens the German So- 
ciety of Naval Architects. 

Nobody v^as so much amazed at the fact that the 
Kaiser, immediately after ascending the throne, dis- 
played a keen interest in the development of the Ger- 
man navy and began to show a thorough knowledge of 
naval matters, as the Germans themselves. For while 
rumor had all along credited the young prince with a 
passionate love of military affairs, there had been no 
suspicion in the public mind that his leanings towards 
naval lore, towards sea-life, and a greater development 
of Germany's resources on the ocean were even stronger. 
The German mind works slowly and laboriously, though 
in the end correctly. It required years to accustom the 
German public to the thought, but at last it woke up to 
the fact that the Kaiser was a thorough expert in naval 
matters, that his urging towards naval expansion was 
justified by events, and that a much larger navy was 
needed for Germany to safeguard her growing interests 
as a world power. Since that conviction has spread 

179 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

throughout the empire, the Kaiser has had plain saiHng 
in reahzing his dream — Germany as a big naval power. 

When William 11. became the head of the German 
nation, in 1888, the navy of the country was insignif- 
icant. It was very small. But that w^as not the worst. 
The twenty-seven iron-clads and twenty- three cruisers 
composing it were, some of them, not much better than 
junk, and all of them were antiquated, of obsolete con- 
struction, and not fit to go into battle with an efficient 
foe. The navy was run down. Very little interest 
was felt in it by the nation at large. As a naval power 
Germany then ranked, but fifteen years ago, away be- 
low Italy, even below Austria, and if it had come to 
actual war, her naval resistance would have been al- 
most nil. 

To-day Germany has thirty-five battle-ships, all, ex- 
cept a very few, of modern build and of fine fighting 
power, and forty- two cruisers of the latest type. A 
large number of first-class vessels are in process of con- 
struction, and, proceeding at the present rate of speed, 
the young empire will have, by 19 15, a navy afloat 
equal or superior to any other in fighting strength ex- 
cepting solely the British. 

This creation of a new navy was the work of the 
Kaiser. Nay, more, the enthusiasm for the navy and 
for naval expansion which is to-day a striking feature 
in German national life, was likewise his work. His 
activity in this line was incessant, and his fertile brain 
suggested constantly novel expedients to further his 
aims. By word of mouth, in public and private, by 
telegrams and letters to all those who could be helpful 
to him, by the publication and wide distribution of 
pamphlets preaching his doctrine, by lectures before 
various public bodies, and by encouragement and in- 
spiration, he has won over, in a campaign lasting 
through the first thirteen years of his reign, the nation 

180 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

as a whole to his ideas. The Reichstag in particular he 
manipulated very cleverly. For years he was met by 
callousness and indifference, but he prevailed in the 
end. The persistence and resourcefulness exhibited by 
him in this matter, coming from a man who in many 
other respects richly deserved his German nickname, 
William the Sudden (Wilhelm der Plotzliche), deserve 
on that account all the more acknowledgment. 

Had the public known that he, while still plain Prince 
William and residing in the semi-seclusion of the small 
marble palace in Potsdam, had studied hard and pa- 
tiently, in close touch all the while with leading naval 
experts at home and abroad, the surprise would not 
have been so complete at the discovery later on that 
Germany had got a ruler, for the first time in her his- 
tory, who had both immense aspirations for national 
sea-power and intimate knowledge as to the means of 
realizing them. 

It was on March i6, 1889, that the small German 
navy met with a severe blow. During the memorable 
hurricane on that day, the German cruiser Adler, the 
gunboat Eber, and the corvette Olga stranded in the 
harbor of Apia, Samoa, and the two larger vessels were 
completely lost, together with their officers and men. 
The American navy, it may be remembered, suffered 
similar losses on the same occasion. A month later, 
when the corvette Alexandrine was about to sail for 
Samoa, the young Kaiser appeared in Wilhelmshaven ^ 
and addressed the parting officers. He said he had 
come to testify to his sympathy for the victims of that 
catastrophe, and to say that they had done their full 
duty on that occasion. He reminded his hearers of 
the fact that when the Duke of Medina Sidonia, who 
had been sent out with the Great Armada by Philip II. 

' Wilhelmshaven is one of the two large German naval ports, 
Kiel being the other. — Ed. 

181 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

of Spain, returned empty-handed to his monarch, the 
latter had consoled him, saying: " To fight men, not the 
will of God, I sent you!" Then he continued: 

''Well, comrades, may the fine example given us by 
these men at Apia, and by the men of the Augusta, 
shine before our eyes always, spurring us on to a like 
fulfilment of duty. May the spirit of devotion, disci- 
pline, and persistence in the face of death, which dis- 
tinguishes my navy before every other, remain alive 
in it. . . ." 

The cession of Heligoland by England, in the summer 
of 1890, gave the Kaiser the welcome opportunity to 
point out, in a stirring address on the inauguration of 
German administration on the island itself, August 
loth, and in an order to the navy, the high strategical 
value of the new possession, and especially its impor- 
tance during a coming naval war. 

A banquet was given the navy by the Kaiser in the 
castle of Gravenstein, near Kiel, on September 6, 1890, 
and the monarch on that occasion toasted his corps of 
naval officers, according them high praise for the able 
manner in which, at the recent naval manoeuvres, they 
had conducted themselves, saying: 

"... As to the discipline, and particularly the train- 
ing of your men in gun-practice and ability to hit float- 
ing and moving objects, they are even to-day second to 
none." 

After the Kaiser had broken ground for the con- 
struction of the Baltic Canal, on April 6, 1891, there 
was a meeting of German naval officers at the Naval 
Academy in Kiel, and several of their number read 
papers on the actual condition of the various navies 

182 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

of the world, Prince Henry, the Kaiser's brother, being 
one of those who joined in the discussion afterwards. 
Then the Kaiser himself, without notes or other prepa- 
ration, spoke to those present for the space of about 
twenty-five minutes. In the main, he summarized the 
conclusions to be drawn from what had been said. His 
talk culminated in a general definition of what Ger- 
many's naval strategy ought to be in the event of a 
future naval war. 

He repudiated earnestly the "inactive cunctator pol- 
icy" pursued by the small and but half -formed German 
navy during the war with France in 1870-71. "The 
offensive is the best defence," he said, "on land as on 
water." That doctrine, he further remarked, must be- 
come an axiom with the German navy hereafter. He 
elaborated this idea and gave a mass of further details 
and directions, comparing "our iron-clad fleet, includ- 
ing the new vessels and the torpedoes, to the cavalry 
on shore." He spoke of every part of the vessels of 
new construction, and of its special tasks and difficul- 
ties, and of the enormous demands made on the ship's 
commander during actual engagement, dwelling with 
special force upon the absolute necessity of keeping his 
presence of mind and his mental and moral balance. 
" Only by getting in close to your adversary, and con- 
centrating your efforts in one mighty, irresistible shock, 
can you win," he said. He reviewed briefly but lucidly 
the great annual naval manoeuvres of England since 
1888, and deduced therefrom the lesson that in the 
future naval wars strategy will play the same dominat- 
ing and decisive part it does in land wars. This theory 
he again further explained. He said " one of the main 
objects of the chief naval commander hereafter must 
be the judicious choice of the 'theatre of war,' and 
the forcing of the enemy onto it." This, he remarked, 
might go so far, under given circumstances, as to send 

183 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

out a portion of the most powerful vessels and swiftest 
cruisers to search out and locate the hostile fleet, per- 
haps long distances from home and days ahead, thus 
inflicting serious injury on the enemy and disturbing 
his tactical arrangements long before the decisive meet- 
ing could take place. He wound up his talk by saying : 

" To our leading naval oflicers points^of view are thus 
opened which demand of them boldness of initiative, 
taxing them to the utmost. Of the leading command- 
ers of our naval forces tasks will henceforth be required 
similar to those demanded of our army." 

In several speeches during that year and the next 
he expressed regret that the German navy was too 
small to fulfil commensurately the requirements which 
the future — perhaps the very near future — would have 
in store for it. The nation as a whole and the German 
press showed little interest in these remarks, and they 
provoked small comment. 

On February i6, 1894, at a trial-trip made by the 
new battle-ship Brandenburg in the harbor of Kiel, there 
was an explosion in the engine-room, and more than 
twoscore men were killed. 

The Kaiser sent a telegram of sympathy, and the 
victims of the catastrophe were buried, at his orders, 
with the same ceremonies as if they had been killed in 
battle. He also caused the erection of a memorial 
tablet in their honor in the navy church in Kiel. 

A few days later, on February 20th, he was present 
at the ceremonies commemorating the completion of 
the twenty-five years of uninterrupted service of the 
old battle - ship Konig Wilhelm, which took place in 
Wilhelmshaven. He made a speech, again pointing 
out Germany's need of a larger navy. In referring to 
the days of 1870-71 and the unsatisfactory share the 

184 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

German navy had had in the events of those days, he 
said: 

"... Whoever can put himself in the place of our 
men in those days, and imagine their feelings, how 
they were for months close to the enemy, yet not per- 
mitted to attack him, will have his heart filled with 
bitterness and wrath." 

A couple of months later, in April, 1894, the imperial 
family sojourned in Abbazia, whence the Kaiser made 
a flying visit to the Austrian naval port of Pola, close 
by, on the Adriatic. He partook of a luncheon ten- 
dered him by the Austrian naval officers, and addressed 
them in a sympathetic strain, paying a warm tribute 
to the late Austrian naval hero, Tegetthoff.' Inci- 
dentally he lauded the Triple AlHance and Austria as 
Germany's faithful ally. 

The addresses which the Kaiser deHvered every 
year to the naval recruits, on the occasion of admin- 
istering to them the oath of service, were some of them 
quite interesting. On December 3, 1894, he said to 
them, among other things : 

'' . . . You wear the Emperor's coat. Thus you are 
lifted up out of the common herd, and are put on a 
par with your comrades of the army and marine. You 
occupy a noble position, and you assume duties. ^ Many 
a one envies you that coat which you are wearing." 

At a similar ceremony on March 5, 1895, at Wilhelms- 
haven, the Kaiser said : 

" You have come here to swear the oath of fidelity. 



> Admiral von TegetthofE, a 
German by birth, the victor over 



the Italians at the naval battle 
of Lissa, in 1866. — Ed, 



185 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

That was an ancient custom of our ancestors, and it has 
always been held a sacred duty to keep this oath faith- 
fully. As I, in my capacity as emperor and ruler, de- 
vote myself entirely to the fatherland, so you now as- 
sume the duty to devote your whole life to me. For 
you have sworn this as Christians, and as Christians 
you have been addressed by yonder two servants of 
God. ... 

''Abroad you are chosen to represent the fatherland 
by your good and dignified conduct. Our navy, it is 
true, is small. But what makes it stronger than other 
navies is our iron discipline, the unquestioning obedi- 
ence to superiors. Thus our navy will grow and flour- 
ish, during peaceful times to promote the peaceable 
interests of the fatherland, and in war times to de- 
stroy the enemy, if God helps us. . . ." 

On July 26, 1895, the Kaiser issued a decree in which 
he regulated the settlement of " affairs of honor" in the 
navy in analogy with the regulations in that respect 
binding on the army. 

When the German gunboat litis went down, during 
a typhoon on the coast of Shantung, China, July 23, 
1896, with the captain and crew cheering the Kaiser as 
she sank, and but ten out of a total of eighty-five sur- 
vived, the Kaiser, who happened to be on his mid- 
summer cruise in northern waters, sent a telegram 
from Bergen, Norway, to his admiral, Knorr, paying a 
high tribute of respect to these men. He said : 

" . . . The whole country will mourn with me, and the 
navy will always remember with gratitude those who 
saw to their last breath the highest law of life in the 
faithful discharge of their duty." 

At the sixtieth anniversary of the reign of Queen Vic- 

186 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

toria, in April, 1897, he sent his brother, Prince Henry, 
to England to represent him on the occasion. The fol- 
lowing telegram, sent to his brother just before he set 
sail, was unquestionably intended for effect on the 
whole of Germany, but more particularly on the ob- 
streperous Reichstag, just then not in the humor for 
large naval appropriations : 

*' I deeply regret my inabiUty to send you to the jubi- 
lee with a better vessel than the Konig Wilhelm, while 
other nations will shine with their proud battle-ships. 
This is the saddening consequence of the conduct of 
those enemies of the fatherland^ who contrive to pre- 
vent the acquisition of much-needed vessels. But I 
shall never rest until I have raised my navy to the 
same height as the army. . . ." 

There were at that moment undoubtedly other and 
finer vessels than the worm-eaten old Konig Wilhelm 
at the Kaiser's disposal. The matter was simply a ht- 
tle coup de theatre, done for effect. And it did have the 
desired effect on the country. From that year on the 
Kaiser entered on a regularly planned and astutely ex- 
ecuted campaign for the enlargement, or, more proper- 
ly speaking, creation, of a new and powerful navy. In 
this he successfully employed every means— cajolery, 
threats, public and private commendation or censure 
etc and by maps and charts designed by his own hand 
he demonstrated to the Reichstag the need for the em- 
pire of a larger navy, furnishing also statistics, com- 
parative tables, and drawings, which were hung up m 

»The German word employed montanes, who refused to sanc- 



by the Kaiser was Vaterlands- 
losen — i. e. , " meft without a coun- 
try " — and was aimed at those 
delegates in the Reichstag, espe- 
cially the Socialists and Ultra- 1 —Ed 

187 



tion his demands that year for 
the navy. The newly elected 
Reichstag, in 1898, proved itself 
to be in a more generous mood. 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

the lobbies of the national parliament building. These 
means were quite effective, slowly but surely. 

To the marine recruits in Wilhelmshaven the Kaiser 
said, on March 2, 1898, referring to the litis incident 
and to the seizure of Kiaochou, in China : 

''You have sworn upon the flag of our navy, which 
shows the colors, black- white-red. Black symbolizes 
toil and mourning ; white, holidays and repose ; red, the 
blood which many of your forebears have shed for the 
fatherland. I remind you of the fact that brave sea- 
men have gone down to the bottom with their last 
thoughts centred upon the dear fatherland and the 
flag which they had sworn to cherish. Many of your 
comrades have gone out to protect the country's in- 
terests. Wherever a German man lies under the sod, 
fallen in the faithful discharge of his duty to the fa- 
therland, and wherever the German eagle has struck 
his talons into a land, that land, I say, is German and 
will remain German. ..." 

The first naval enlargement bill was adopted by the 
Reichstag on March 28, 1898, and the Kaiser noted his 
joy at the event by a series of telegrams to the Grand- 
duke of Baden, to the Hamburg- American line, and 
others. In his telegram to Burgomaster Pauli, of 
Bremen, he said: 

" . . .As the German army has secured us peace on 
land, so similarly the German navy will secure us peace 
on sea, and therewith the undisturbed development of 
our navigation, in which the city of Bremen has so 
prominent a share." 

Meanwhile, due largely to the Kaiser's inspiration 
and ceaseless efforts, the Deutsche Flottenverein (Ger- 

188 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

man Naval Society) had been formed, a body of naval 
enthusiasts who wished to promote the enlargement of 
the navy, and which has since grown to a membership 
of eight hundred and fifty thousand, with branch so- 
cieties everywhere. On September 14, 1898, the Kaiser 
sent to the president. Prince Hohenlohe-Schillingsfurst, 
a congratulatory telegram on the occasion of its first 
annual meeting. He said in it: 

" May the patriotic efforts of the society and its mem- 
bers contribute to the conviction that a more rapid and 
energetic development of our sea-power is a necessity, 
and that this conviction may take deeper root in the 
German nation. A powerful navy is one of the most 
important foundations for the maintenance of the great- 
ness and prestige of the empire, as it also is for the 
growth of our economic interests." 

Messages similar in spirit were likewise wired, then 
and soon after, to several German sovereigns who had 
fathered the formation of branch societies in their 
domains. 

On May 25, 1899, the German Society of Naval Archi- 
tects was formed, on the model of the British one, and 
the Kaiser sent a message expressing his satisfaction 
thereat to the president, Busley, in Berlin. 

In October, 1899, the cruiser Kaiser returned from 
far Asia, and the Kaiser spoke to the crew at some 
length, saying: 

"... You have my thanks, as your commander-in- 
chief, and that of the "entire fatherland, for having once 
more brought renown to the German name abroad. 
That applies especially to you, who are now standing 
before me, arms at rest, and who have done your share 
in the seizure of Kiaochou, executed at my orders. 

189 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

God be praised, it has at last come to pass that every- 
body in the empire, old and yoimg, high and humble, 
follows with affection and interest every one of our 
few vessels of war having a mission to perform in for- 
eign waters. ..." 

Early in 1900 another and much more comprehen- 
sive bill, prepared by the government at the Kaiser's 
behest and looking to the enlargement of the navy on 
a more solid basis and extending over a period of fif- 
teen years, was introduced in the Reichstag. The 
Kaiser thereupon redoubled his efforts in the way of 
making propaganda for this measure, and showered 
telegrams on all those German sovereigns or citizens 
who were prominently engaged in furthering his ob- 
jects. Thus he telegraphed to Prince Wied, in Berlin, 
president of the Deutsche Flottenverein ; to the King 
of Wiirtemberg, saying to the latter: 

"... I trust that the events of the last days have 
convinced widening circles that not Germany's inter- 
ests alone, but also her honor in far-away waters, must 
be protected, and that, to do this, Germany must be 
strong and mighty on the seas." 

To the governor-general of Alsace-Lorraine, Prince 
Hohenlohe-Langenburg, who had announced to him the 
formation there of branches of the Naval Society, he 
telegraphed appreciatively on March 3, 1900, saying: 

"... That the importance for Germany of greater 
sea-power is recognized more and more clearly and gen- 
erally in the Reichslande, proves the growing German 
national sentiment of the Alsace- Lorrainers. ..." 

One of the most effective means employed by the 

190 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

Kaiser to interest the population of inner Germany, 
away from the extensive coast-Une, for his naval plans, 
and thus exert through them a strong pressure upon 
their representatives in the Reichstag, was the de- 
spatching of a torpedo fleet up the Rhine. He had 
made careful preparations for this, and wherever these 
small boats, decked out gayly in the national colors, 
stopped, at all the small or large Rhine ports in Prussia, 
Hesse, Bavaria, Baden, officers and men were enthu- 
siastically welcomed and hospitably entertained. The 
great majority of these inland people had never seen a 
war- vessel before, either German or foreign, and their 
enthusiasm and curiosity knew no bounds. 

In special telegrams to the communal councils of 
Cologne and other large places along the flotilla's itin- 
erary, the Kaiser recommended these vessels and their 
crews to the hospitality of the citizens, employing 
homely phrases for the purpose. The flotilla thus pene- 
trated, leaving the larger vessels, one by one, behind 
at centres of population, and the smaller ones going on 
to the very limits of the empire in the southwest, al- 
most to the sources of the Rhine — viz., to Ludwigs- 
hafen and Constance by the lake of that name. The 
mission was eminently successful. 

To the sovereigns of Hesse, Bavaria, and Baden the 
Kaiser likewise sent sympathetic telegrams as soon as 
the flotilla had arrived within their territory. 

It was no wonder, then, that the Reichstag made rec- 
ord time in debating and then adopting this most im- 
portant bill, which that body did on June 12, 1900. 
To the Senate of Hamburg the Kaiser wired, in answer 
to congratulations, as follows: 

*' I have received your telegram with pleasure. Your 
words show me anew that you have apprehended my 
aims and labors, and that you have faithfully collabo- 

191 



THE KAlSER^S SPEECHES 

rated with me. You will believe that I thank the 
Almighty for this success. May He give us, also, His 
assistance for the remaining work, until the completion 
of which we shall have to continue our exertions with- 
out abatement." 

And to the directors of the Hamburg- American line 
he sent a telegram thanking all those who had aided 
him, and then adding: 

"... And now let us go on in the good work, that our 
navy may soon appear on the seas, really compelling 
respect, and as an additional power in my hands to 
safeguard peace to the world." 

In Kiel, at the swearing-in of the marines, on Novem- 
ber 23, 1900, the Kaiser spoke again at length. He 
reviewed briefly the growth of the German navy, and 
spoke of the heroic death of the litis crew. Then he 
said: 

" Suddenly the picture has changed. . . . Within a few 
months men of our navy have become the allies of those 
sent by the civilized Christian nations to uphold their 
faith in far-away parts and to maintain order. And 
while out there guns are thundering and men of the 
different navies distinguish themselves by bravery, 
many a one losing his life in courageously fighting, you 
young recruits swear the oath upon our flag. ... I am 
convinced that many a one out there has had a minute 
or an hour when he suddenly felt abandoned, having 
only himself to rely upon, and fortified only by the 
oath he had taken. I can say with pride and pleasure 
that my sons have not disappointed me. I gratefully 
acknowledge what your brothers have accomplished 
out there. We will not forget that a new word of 

192 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

command fell there for the first time from the mouth 
of a foreign leader: 'Germans to the front!' Your 
brothers succeeded in cutting out their comrades from 
the hands of an overwhelming foe. because they re- 
membered their oath. ..." 

The Kaiser, of course, refers here to incidents of the 
Chinese troubles. 

Marine reinforcements left Wilhelmshaven for Kiao- 
chou on March 4, 1901, and the Kaiser bade them God- 
speed, saying: 

"Soldiers, you are going to a country which has ex- 
perienced during the last months what is meant by 
German discipline, German valor, and German military 
training. The foreigner has been made to feel what it 
means to insult the German Kaiser and his soldiers. 
The enemy has been taught a severe lesson, and all 
other nations have seen how German soldiers fight, 
conquer, and die. All of them have gained respect for 
our art of war and for our training.- May you show in 
foreign countries our matchless discipline, our unques- 
tioning obedience and bravery, and all the good qualities 
of body and soul. May you be instrumental in spread- 
ing the glory of the fatherland all over the earth. ..." 

The Kaiser loves to surprise his people, and now and 
then he does thoroughly unconventional things. In the 
history of Prussia, for instance, it had never happened 
that the monarch so far ignored his exalted position 
as to attend, as one in the audience, a public meeting, 
and then to mingle with his subjects on terms of per- 
fect equality — nay, more than that, to take part in the 
general debate, and to address the meeting, after ob- 
taining permission to do so from the chairman, in an- 
swer to some previous speaker. Yet that is precisely 
13 193 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

what the Kaiser did, on November 8, 1901, at the 
third annual meeting of the Society of German Naval 
Architects in Berlin. The subject under discussion 
was one of special interest to him — namely, ''The 
Development in the Placing of Guns on Board Battle- 
ships" — and several of the most noted German experts 
had spoken at length on the topic. But when the Kai- 
ser rose and delivered, off-hand, and in an easy, conver- 
sational style, in his high, clear, strident voice, a lecture 
on the matter which went to the very marrow of it, the 
general impression of the distinguished audience was 
that a man had spoken who understood his topic in its 
every bearing. The main part of his speech was as 
follows : 

" I believe that this question has been discussed in 
this meeting principally from the technical view-point. 
Perhaps a brief reference to the other side of the ques- 
tion will not be without interest « I mean the influence 
of the military requirements upon this development in 
ship- construction and the placement of the artillery. 
The previous speaker retraced his steps as far as the 
old ships of the line, and pointed out that the stem 
and bow fire had been somewhat neglected. The ships 
of the line, it must be remembered, are in accord with 
specific military and technical requirements. But I 
think we might go back a little farther. In the period 
of the galleys, for example, a very energetic develop- 
ment of the bow fire had taken place. Comparing the 
galleys with the later ships of the line simply from, that 
point, it must be said that the galleys showed a high- 
er degree of development — for the galleys had to rely 
upon their own resources of propulsion even in calm 
weather. Hence, too, a flotilla of galleys pursued dif- 
ferent tactics from the ship of the line. They had to 
make a more extensive use of their artillery. And be- 

194 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

cause of that, a galley fleet drew up for battle in a wide 
front, such as we see was done in the biggest naval en- 
gagement of those times — the battle of Lepanto. On 
that occasion the admiral, Don Juan d'Austria, crushed 
the enemy by the superiority of his bowsprit artillery. 
These requirements, then, are in accord with good tac- 
tics, as I said before, and the tactics again depend upon 
the mode of propulsion anterior to the steam method 
— using wind conditions skilfully — while the different 
methods in vogue at that time and since depend upon 
the military qualifications and peculiarities of each na- 
tion. I mean by that more particularly the relative 
progress in military and nautical things, as well as their 
natural disposition regarding the offensive or defen- 
sive. We see it by the manner in which England uses 
her battle-ships — how they like to break the broad for- 
mation of the battle-line by developing the keel-line, 
and thus splitting up the advance and the rear guard. 
Why, the English ships were built for these very tactics. 
From all of which results the great necessity of the bow 
and stem fire, and this necessity has not been suf- 
ficiently insisted upon. The English and the French 
frigates were in the habit of placing, in pursuit of a su- 
perior adversary, five or six guns of the heaviest cali- 
ber, if they could get near enough to him, which is a 
proof that even then the independent placement of 
artillery was resorted to in stringent cases. As for the 
point made by the previous speaker relative to the 
most important phases of development in English and 
French ship - construction, I entirely agree with the 
statements of the other speakers about that. But I 
should like to point out why German ship-construction 
can fairly claim a system of its own, and that consists 
in the fact that we have from the start insisted that 
the influence of the marine officers, of the vessel's com- 
mander, should be, as far as at all expedient, the dom- 

195 



THE KAISER*S SPEECHES 

mating one with the designer and constructor of the 
ship. 

" The consequence has been that our naval ship type 
has developed solely under the influence of military re- 
quirements in striking contrast to formerly, when the 
constructor merely built a vessel and the navy mere- 
ly operated it. That principle is antiquated. But, of 
course, the ship-constructor has to make a successful 
compromise between the artillery fire and the engine 
requirements on the one hand and the requirements of 
actual engagement conditions on the other. I believe 
that the type of battle-ship we have at present is ca- 
pable and certain of further development, until it will 
furnish us with a fighting machine such as we must 
demand from the military view-point. And I also be- 
lieve that the co-operation of our naval engineers and 
architects with our proved and tried ship-yards will re- 
sult in tangible progress. ..." . 

As to the relations existing between the Kaiser and 
his navy, it is particularly characteristic that they are 
not nearly so formal and stiff as those with the army. 
He cultivates a spirit of hearty comradeship with both 
officers and men. He has given his photograph, often 
with his signature, to hundreds of the officers and men, 
and he has made little gifts of money or cigars to de- 
serving old tars on innumerable occasions, has often 
chatted by the hour with a plain deck-hand, and in- 
quired, with genuine interest, into their private and 
family affairs. When on board his own yacht, the 
Hohenzollern, or some other vessel, he exposes himself 
to every sort of weather, and is forever "roughing it" 
in true sailor fashion. It is credibly asserted that he 
knows by name and otherwise every one of his officers 
in the navy, and holds towards them and their men 
an attitude which is, for a monarch, a novel and very 

196 



THE KAISER AND THE GERMAN NAVY 

judicious mixture composed of about equal parts of the 
admiral, the sovereign, and the father. He makes his 
navy work hard, very hard ; that is true. But he shows 
himself that he is fond of hard work and unmindful 
of exposure. In many ways he rewards efficiency 
and ardent fulfilment of duty — by prizes, preferment, 
bounties, honorable mention, verbal praise — and never 
shows anything but the keenest, most sincere interest 
in the welfare and the doings of his navy. The result 
of all this is inevitable. The navy loves and vener- 
ates the Kaiser with a feeling similar in depth and 
quality to that which filled the soldiers of the first 
Napoleon towards Le Petit Caporal. 

It is well to know these facts. They not only help 
to a better and fairer understanding of the strangely 
complex nature of the Kaiser, but they also explain 
the hopes which that ruler is building in large part upon 
his navy. The scope and essence of these hopes and 
dreams — to develop Germany into a great maritime 
power — he has, as we have seen, himself unfolded on 
several occasions. 



XII 

LAUNCHINGS OF VESSELS 

Stirring and patriotic speeches made by the Kaiser on these 
occasions — Pointing to the future when Germany is to be a 
great maritime power — His parallels drawn from history, 
Teutonic mythology, and folk-lore — "We bitterly need a 
powerful German navy" — Strong public censure for his 
opponents in the Reichstag — Pointed references to Ameri- 
can advance — Emphasizing the idea of a world power. 

Scarcely one of the newer ships of the German navy 
has been launched since the Kaiser's accession which he 
has not welcomed to its watery element with a speech 
more or less graphic and telling. And in this, as in 
other things at which the careless world has often 
scoffed as merely theatrical, there has been method. 
He has adroitly used these occasions to further his pet 
project — developing the German navy into a powerful 
rival to England, France, and Russia, and quickening 
the public opinion of the empire until it should beat in 
accordance with his own convictions. A natural-born 
orator, with an orator's love of sounding phrase and 
scintillating metaphor, his many addresses on the oc- 
casion of wedding the powerful hulks with the sea have 
yet served mainly the serious and practical purpose 
aforesaid. ' 

Nearly always these speeches have been instinct with 
life and fire, been dashing and enthusiastic, palpitating 
with patriotism. For parallels in the lessons he sought 
to convey he went as a rule to history, especially the 

198 



LAUNCHINGS OF VESSELS 

nautical history of the great maritime powers of the 
past and present, and his similes and figures of speech 
he chose from German folk-lore and old Teuton my- 
thology. 

The first of these speeches he made on June 30, 1891, 
when he baptized at Wilhelmishaven the fine battle-ship 
Kurfiirst Friedrich Wilhelm. This vessel was to take 
the place of the iron-clad Grosser Kurfiirst, which had 
collided, near Folkstone, on May 31, 1878, and gone 
down with her crew of two hundred and sixty-nine 
officers and men. He said: 

''The great sire of our house, three centuries ago, 
knew how to lift the electorate of Brandenburg from 
its insignificant position and to raise an army feared 
by his enemies, courted by his friends. We mind the 
man of Warsaw, Fehrbellin, and Stettin. True, the 
Great Elector^ awakens sad memories in my navy. 
But the name, too, is a mighty incentive. And I trust 
that the old motto: Hie gut Brandenburg allewege! will 
be illustrated by this ship. And thus, in memory of this 
great man, I baptize it Kurfiirst Friedrich Wilhelm.'" 

The battle-ship Brandenburg was launched on Sep- 
tember 2 2d of the same year from the Vulcan yards 
in Stettin, and the Kaiser greeted the fine vessel as 
follows : 

"... Bear thou, O noble ship, a name which in the 
history of our country is a comer and foundation stone, 
the name of a land which forms the very centre of 
our monarchy, inhabited by a people who — poor, faith- 
ful, brave, and steadfast — is bound to the race of 
Hohenzollem with hooks of steel. One with the Ho- 

' English for Grosser Kurfiirst. — Ed. 
199 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

henzollerns, it has, like them, made itself famed and 
feared. ..." 

Less than two months later, on December 14, 1891, 
another battle-ship of the same type, the Weissenburg, 
received its name from the Kaiser, and at the same 
yard. He said : 

"... The name shall recall the man who witnessed 
the baptism of the first-born of this yard.* It is also 
to recall that heroic time when our country rose united 
and won its consolidation on the battle-field. And the 
name is to recall the deeds which my father, whose 
memory will shine brilliantly into futurity, achieved at 
the head of the united German hosts. Thou shalt bear 
the name of a day which was epoch-making for our 
history, for it was the corner-stone for the structure 
that subsequently culminated in the imperial crown. 
It shall recall the name of that battle at which, for the 
first time, the united German armies were led by Crown- 
prince Frederick William, winning victory over a chiv- 
alrous foe, and by winning this victory gave opportu- 
nity to the German arms for further victories. ..." 

The iron-clad Heimdall was launched at Kiel, from 
the imperial yards, on June 27, 1892, and the Kaiser 
remarked : 

"... The name to be chosen for thee is taken from the 
earliest sagas of our forefathers in the North. Thou 
shalt bear the name of that god whose chief province 
it was to safeguard the golden gates of Valhalla from 
every wicked intruder. As he, sounding his golden horn 
as a token to the gods of approaching danger, called 

» His father, then the Crown-prince Frederick William. — Ed. 

200 



LAUNCHINGS OF VESSELS 

upon them to fight for the halls of the immortals, 
and by his blasts brought disorder and woe into 
the hostile ranks, so in like manner be it with 
thee ! 

** Glide thou into thy element now ! Be ever a faith- 
ful warden of the seas, ever a faithful defender of our 
nation's honor, the honor of our flag. And when the 
time arrives, bring thou also destruction and despair 
into thy foe's lines. 

** Bear thou in honor the name of Heimdall!'' 

A sister-ship to the above, the Aegir, was launched 
on March 3, 1895, at Kiel, and the Kaiser spoke in a 
similar strain, saying: 

"... Sprung from the ancient Germanic sagas are 
the names of these ships, belonging to the same class in 
our navy. Hence, thou, too, shalt remind us of the 
dawn of our race, of that dread divinity which was ven- 
erated by all our seafaring Teuton forebears, and whose 
powerful dominion stretched from the icy north pole 
to the distant south pole, in whose realm the Northern 
battles were fought, and death and terror carried into 
the land of the enemy. The name of this awful god 
thou shalt bear. Be worthy of it. Thus I call thee 
Aegir!'' 

In place of the worn-out iron-clad P reus sen, launched 
by the Kaiser's father and mother, another and larger 
battle-ship had been built. Its baptismal rites were 
performed at Wilhelmshaven on July i, 1896, and the 
Kaiser spoke at some length on that occasion, giving 
it the name of his father. Kaiser Friedrich III. He 
paid a warm tribute to his father on that occasion, and 
called upon the nation to bear in mind always his 
high virtues as a ruler and a man. In speaking of his 

201 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

leadership during the war against France, the Kaiser 
made use of the phrase : 

'' My father won our House of Hohenzollern the im- 
perial crown forever and aye." 

During the banquet a few hours later, in answer to 
an address by the Naval Secretary, Admiral Hollmann, 
the Kaiser proposed a toast, during which he said : 

*' . . . Our navy, then still in process of formation, 
was not able to take as important a part during the 
late war as we should have wished, was not able to 
sacrifice life, blood, and treasure for the good of the 
fatherland. ..." 

To replace the antiquated Konig Wilhelm, the big 
13,500-ton battle-ship Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse had 
been built at Kiel, and the Kaiser, on June i, 1899, 
spoke appropriately, while the act of baptism itself was 
performed by his aunt, the Grand-duchess Louise of 
Baden. 

Another formidable battle-ship, the Kaiser Karl der 
Grosse,^ glided into the Elbe River, at Hamburg, on 
October 18, 1899, and after the ceremony the city of 
Hamburg gave the Kaiser a splendid banquet in the 
municipal building, the monarch delivering a speech 
mainly on the naval needs of the empire, making use 
of the following language : 

"... We need this new ship. We bitterly need a 
powerful German navy. . . . Right here, in the centre of 
this mighty emporium of commerce, one feels the elas- 
ticity and the fulness which the German people can by 

' Emperor Charlemagne. — Ed. 
202 



LAUNCHINGS OF VESSELS 

their consolidation lend to this city's far-reaching en- 
terprises. And it is here, too, that they know and feel 
best how absolutely necessary to our foreign interests 
is a powerful protection and the mighty strengthening 
of our sea-power. Yet slowly — oh, how slowly — this 
conviction spreads in the interior of the fatherland, 
while so much of its strength is wasted in vain partisan 
squabbles. With deep anxiety have I observed how 
slowly interest in and political understanding of this 
truth have progressed in Germany. Look around you ! 
Within a few, a very few, years, how much has the world 
changed its face ? Old empires sink to their doom and 
new ones are in the ascendant. Nations suddenly 
appear within the visual horizon and enter into ener- 
getic competition, which a brief while ago had scarcely 
been noticed by the eye of the careless throng. Events 
which wrought a revolution in international relations 
and upon the field of social economy came to pass with- 
in a couple of months, while formerly they would have 
required centuries to ripen. It is owing to all this that 
the tasks for empire and people have grown immense- 
ly, and demand of me and my government unusual 
and hard effort — effort, too, which can be crowned 
by success only in case the German people stand be- 
hind me, united and steadfast, abandoning their party 
strife. And our people must make sacrifices. Above 
all must they leave off the mania to look to party as 
the highest good, party in ever-increasing bitterness of 
spirit. Our people must cease putting party above the 
common weal. Our people must learn to control their 
old hereditary vices ; above all, to cease fruitless criti- 
cism, and to halt before those limits which our most 
vital interests draw. For it is precisely these old polit- 
ical sins which at present tell fatally against our mari- 
time interests and our navy. Had they not persistent- 
ly refused me, during the first eight years of my reign, 

203 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

and despite my incessant prayers and warnings to en- 
large it — and neither scorn nor scoffings was I spared 
during those years — how much more rapidly, and by 
what other and more potent means could we now pro- 
mote our flourishing commerce and our transmarine 
interests ! 

" But my hopes to see the German make a manful ef- 
fort are not gone. For in his bosom glows and beats 
mightily the love for the fatherland. ..." 

On April 21, 1900, the Naval Secretary, Admiral von 
Tirpitz, wired the Kaiser news of the launching of an- 
other big ship of the line, the Barbarossa. The Kaiser 
sent, in reply, a telegram worded very patriotically. 

Another large battle-ship, the Wittelshack, was bap- 
tized on July 4, 1900, in Wilhelmshaven, by a member 
of the royal Wittelsbach dynasty. Prince Rupprecht of 
Bavaria, who had been invited for the purpose. The 
Kaiser also witnessed the ceremony and conferred a 
naval rank on the prince. The latter toasted the Kai- 
ser, who then replied : 

'' . . . Your Royal Highness has had occasion, recently, 
to attend gatherings at which decisions were arrived at 
that will influence the destinies of the nation. Your 
Royal Highness must have observed how powerfully 
the waves of the ocean beat at the gates of our people 
and compel us to maintain our place in the world as a 
great power — in a word, we must pursue a world policy. 
The sea and sea-power are indispensable for Germany's 
greatness. But it is the sea, too, which proves that 
neither upon the water nor upon the land, in far-away 
countries, decisions must be reached or events happen 
without the consent of Germany and the German Era- 
peror. I am not of opinion that our German people, 
thirty years ago, fought and bled under the leadership 

204 



LAUNCHINGS OF VESSELS 

of our princes and monarchs in order to be pushed 
aside when important decisions are to be made in for- 
eign parts. If we were to permit that, our role as a 
world power would be over and done with forever, and 
I do not intend that it shall come to that. To find 
for this purpose the adequate means, and, if need be, 
the most trenchant as well, is my duty as well as my 
most cherished prerogative. I feel sure that in this I 
have Germany's princes and our entire people behind 
me in solid phalanx. ..." 



XIII 

THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

His own experience in a German public school — A letter by 
him in which he drastically points out shortcomings of the 
prevailing system — School reforms planned by him at his 
accession — The cadet academies the first to be modelled 
by him — The great "School Reform Quest" in 1890 — Re- 
markable address delivered by him on that occasion — 
Radical changes advocated — Healthful sport recommended 
— Teachers must infuse patriotism in their pupils' minds — 
How he thought socialism could be extirpated — Wants the 
youth of his country to be taught how to become patriotic 
Germans, not Romans or Greeks — Insisting on the high 
value of technical training — Summing up his reform ideas. 

At the command of his parents the Kaiser, then a 
boy of fifteen, was sent to Cassel, there to attend, from 
1874 to 1877, the local ''gymnasium," known as the 
Lyceum Fridericianum, a higher public school enjoy- 
ing an excellent reputation. Its principal, Professor 
Dr. Vogt, was a noted pedagogue. The latter wrote to 
Prince William's parents a letter in answer to the in- 
quiry whether their son would be welcome in his school, 
in which he stated quite frankly that that would be the 
case only if the young prince would pledge himself to 
comply with all the rules of the institution precisely in 
the same manner as every other pupil did. 

This candid letter was exactly what the boy's father 
and mother had looked for, and soon after Prince Will- 
iam came to Cassel, making his summer quarters the 
beautiful chateau of Wilhelmshohe (where Napoleon 

206 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

III. was held a captive after Sedan), and a smaller pal- 
ace in the immediate vicinity of the school edifice his 
residence during winter. There is an abundance of 
authentic material on hand showing how the heir to the 
imperial throne of Germany conducted himself during 
this interesting period of his life. 

In an official report, some time after Prince William's 
entry, by Ludwig Wiese, a Prussian school-inspector to 
whose district belonged Cassel, mention is made of him 
as follows: 

"Prince William rode every morning on horseback from 
Wilhelmshohe to school, arriving punctually in town so as to 
be in his class-room before 7 a.m. The class to which he 
belonged was attended by twenty-one pupils. In his appear- 
ance and in his demeanor I could discover no difference with 
his fellow-pupils. He was modest and unassuming in his ways. 
I noticed in him a predilection for Horace. He had of his own 
volition translated several Horatian odes and learned them by 
heart, and sometimes, as the principal told me, he had brought 
ancient coins or illustrations of antique objects into the class- 
room, when he believed they explained certain passages. He 
took the greatest amount of interest in history. In examining 
him he did not miss an answer. ..." 

This same authority states, in another official report, 
that, in accordance with the expressly worded desire of 
his parents, absolutely no difference was made at school 
between the prince and the other pupils, that he con- 
ducted himself with credit, and that he passed, in 1877, 
his *' maturity" examination with honors. 

The principal's report said that Prince William was 
uniformly bright and happy in his disposition, and 
showed the spirit of good-comradeship, but never os- 
tentatiously. However, with all that, he clearly was 
of a somewhat sedate and precociously dignified bear- 
ing, never in his intercourse with other youths for- 
getting his position. The demands made upon his dili- 

207 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

gence and mental capacity were greater than with the 
rest. Besides the regular tasks for the school, both in 
the class-room and at home, he pursued military scien- 
tific studies, and took regular practice in various forms 
of physical exercise — above all, in horsemanship, row- 
ing, swimming, fencing, and gymnastics. The theatre 
was visited by him but rarely, as a rule only on the 
anniversary days of the birth of members of the royal 
Prussian family. He was an excellent swimmer, and 
during the summer he seldom missed a day swimming 
in the Fulda River, making use for that purpose of the 
conveniences afforded by the military natatorium near 
the city. 

After successfully passing the final examination. 
Prince William gave, on the eve of his eighteenth 
birthday, January 26, 1877, a farewell dinner, to which 
all his late teachers and fellow-pupils and some other 
guests had been invited by him. He made a neat little 
speech, thanking everybody, and then distributed, at 
the instance of his grandfather, the reigning Kaiser, 
some orders and decorations. His classmates were 
given his photograph with autograph signature. 

During the whole time he spent at Cassel and in 
school, it was remarked that he had a special and nat- 
ural gift of bearing himself with dignity in his inter- 
course with everybody. 

It is of interest to note Prince William's real opin- 
ions regarding the methods of teaching observed in this 
public school at Cassel. In a letter written by him 
on April 2, 1885, eight years after leaving college, to 
a German lawyer who had sent him two pamphlets on 
the shortcomings of the prevailing methods of German 
tuition, Prince William, then a young man of twenty- 
six, says: 

"Most cordial thanks for the two publications you 

208 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

sent me. I have read Woran wir leiden ' with great 
interest and greater pleasure. At last one who ener- 
getically attacks this ossified and spirit-killing system 
of ours! What you say therein I subscribe to word 
for w^ord. I have, as you know, had occasion to con- 
vince myself, for two years and a half, in how many 
ways our youth is being sinned against. How many 
of those things which you there cite I have ruminated 
over by myself ! Just to mention a few of those things : 

"Of twenty -one primaner'^ which constituted our 
class, no fewer than nineteen had to wear glasses. Three 
of them had to put an additional glass in front of their 
spectacles when they wanted to see as far as the black- 
board ! 

" Homer, that magnificent man, for whom I have a 
great admiration; Horace; Demosthenes, whose ora- 
tions are bound to enthuse any one — how were they 
read ? With enthusiasm, perhaps, for the battles paint- 
ed or for the splendid weapons described or for the 
strong passages of nature description? Not at all. 
Under the scalpel of the grammarian, the fanatical phi- 
lologist, every brief sentence was divided, quartered, 
until the skeleton had been found with joy and had 
been triumphantly exhibited to the admiration of all, 
in order to demonstrate in how many ways dv or eVt 
or any other trivial thing may be prefixed or affixed ! 
It was enough to shed tears ! 

'' The Latin and Greek treatises — a howling farce ! — 
what trouble and labor they cost ! And what pitiable 
results were obtained! I believe Horace would have 
given up the ghost with fright. 

'* Away with this rot ! War to the knife against such 
tuition ! This system brings it about that our youth 
know the syntax, the grammar of these ancient lan- 

* What We Suffer From. — I ^ Pupils of the highest class 
Ed. 1 in a German gymnasium. — Ed. 

14 209 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

guages better than the old Greeks themselves knew it ; 
that they know by heart every one of these old gen- 
erals, battles, and orders of battles in the Punic and 
Mithridatic wars, but are left completely in the dark 
about the battles of the Seven Years' War, let alone 
those of the 'much-too-modern' wars of '66 or '70, 
which, of course, 'they haven't had yet.' 

''As for the body, now, I am also of the well-defined 
opinion that the afternoon hours ought to be free for 
once and all. The lessons in gymnastics ought to be a 
pleasure for the boys. Races over hurdled tracks and 
very natural arrangements for climbing would be of 
value. It would be a good idea if in all towns having 
military garrisons the entire male youth of riper years 
were made to drill with canes twice or thrice every 
week under the direction of a sergeant. And to take 
the place of the present stupid class excursions — with 
elegant walking-canes, in black coats, and a cigar in the 
mouth — brisk tramps across fields, roughing it, even if 
it should terminate now and then in athletic games or 
in a free-for-all, hand-to-hand fight among the boys. 

" Our primaner are — and we ourselves were not any 
better — nowadays much too affected to pull off their 
coats and have a lively scramble or set-to. What else 
can be expected of them under present conditions. 
Therefore, I say, guerre a outrance on this system. And 
I am more than ready to co-operate with you in your 
efforts. I rejoice to have found one who speaks out 
plainly and who seizes upon things with a firm hand. 
"Your William, Prince of Prussia." 

It will readily be understood that the young Kaiser, 
when he came to reign, embraced the reform of higher 
education in German schools in his programme. 

The first of these attempts at reform was aimed at 
the government cadet schools and military academies. 

210 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

His own high opinion of the educational worth of these 
miHtary institutions may safely be gathered from the 
fact that he placed his sons not in a " gymnasium," but 
in the cadet school in Plon. On February 13, 1890, he 
issued a decree looking to a very radical and compre- 
hensive reorganization both in the methods of tuition 
and in the choice of subjects taught. This document 
said that the chief aim of education in these military 
institutions must be the harmonious co-operation of 
physical, mental, and religious discipline and devel- 
opment, thus forming character. He elaborated this 
postulate, and pointed out mistaken methods pursued 
in these schools. Then he went on insisting that in re- 
ligious tuition emphasis must be laid more on ethical 
and less on dogmatic features. The officers graduating 
from these institutions were intended, he said, to be- 
come themselves educators in "the great school of the 
nation, the army," and hence the paramount impor- 
tance of making them self-contained, harmoniously de- 
veloped men, able to teach as much by personal exam- 
ple as by word of mouth. " Devotion to monarch and 
country," he said, "depends, like the fulfilment of all 
other duties, on divine command." Hence, too, he wish- 
ed German history, especially the more modem parts of 
it, taught more extensively and in detail, and in such 
manner as to awaken in the mind of the pupil the sense 
of heroism and historic grandeur, and to give him due 
appreciation of and comprehension for the "roots and 
the development of our culture." The German — its 
literature, its ready and correct use, both in writing and 
orally — the Kaiser wants made the centre of all tui- 
tion, and this must also comprise a knowledge of the 
folk-lore, the mythology, and the legends of the Ger- 
manic race. As to modern foreign languages, special 
attention must be paid from the start to enable prac- 
tical use of them, in speaking and writing. 

211 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

On these general lines the military schools of Ger- 
many have since been gradually remodelled. 

Towards the close of the same year the Kaiser ap- 
proached the much more difficult and delicate, as well 
as far more important, task of reorganizing the higher 
public schools for the education of the civilian popula- 
tion — i.e., the "gymnasia," the ''upper real schools," 
and the ' ' real gymnasia . ' ' The then Prussian Minister of 
Education, Von Gossler, an exceptionally able man, had 
been won by the Kaiser for his plans, and, a number of 
preparatory steps having been taken, the great *' school 
conference" met on December 4, 1890, in Berlin. It 
was composed of forty-five experts, nearly all practical 
or theoretical pedagogues. The Kaiser welcomed these 
men in a set speech, and soon after the first preliminary 
session had been opened he addressed them at length. 
His speech on that occasion was one of the longest and 
weightiest he ever made. It was nothing less than a 
complete exposure of his educational programme for the 
empire. The most remarkable passages in it were as 
follows : 

"... First of all, I wish to point out that this is not 
a political school question, but merely an effort to agree 
on technical and pedagogical measures needed to de- 
velop our growing youth of to-day in a way to enable 
them to grapple successfully with the demands which 
the altered position in the world makes on our country 
and on our life. . . . 

" The main thing is that you grasp the spirit of this 
matter, and not the mere form. I have myself scrib- 
bled down some of the chief points to which I wish to 
direct your attention. I trust you will give them due 
weight. 

" There we have, for instance, * School Hygiene, Aside 
from Gymnastics,' a matter deserving mature delib- 

212 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

eration. Then we have ' Reduction in the Number of 
Subjects for Tuition,' which means consideration of 
those things which can be fitly eHminated. Again we 
have * Plans of Tuition for the Several Branches ' and 
' Teaching Methods for Organization.' Also ' Have the 
Unnecessaries Been all Removed from the Examina- 
tions?' and 'Has Overwork and Overcrowding Been 
Avoided for the Future?' ... 

" If the school had done what one had a right to 
expect of it, it would of its own accord have entered 
into the fight against Social Democracy. The teaching 
bodies ought to have taken hold of the matter and 
ought to have instructed the growing generation in such 
a way that those young men who are of about the same 
age as myself — about thirty, therefore — would of them- 
selves have formed the material with which I could 
operate within the state in order to dominate and sup- 
press the movement. That has not been the case, 
however. The last phase of our development, where 
the school exerted decisive influence upon our whole 
national life, was the time of 1864, 1866, until 1870. 
Then it was the Prussian schools; the Prussian teach- 
ers were the advocates of the idea of national unity, 
an idea which was preached everywhere. Every young 
student on leaving school and entering the army, or 
stepping out into civil life, every one, all were of one 
mind : The German Empire must be re-established and 
Alsace-Lorraine must be regained. With the year 1 8 7 1 
this has ceased. The empire is reunited. We have at- 
tained what we wanted ; and then matters have come 
to a stand-still. 

" It would have been the task of the school, starting 
from the newly won basis, to inspire and to enlighten 
our youth that the new empire was there to be pre- 
served and maintained. But nothing of the kind has 
been done. Even now, but a short time after the foun- 

213 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

dation of the empire, centrifugal tendencies are notice- 
able. I can notice that because I stand on high, and 
all such questions approach and confront me. 

*' The reason of this is to be looked for in the educa- 
tion of our youth. What is amiss in it? Many things. 
Above all, this : that since the year 1870 the philologists 
have sat in the gymnasia as beati possidentes, and have 
put the emphasis upon acquiring book knowledge only, 
neglecting the formation of character and the require- 
ments of modern life. . . . Not the ability to do, but only 
to know things has been fostered and taught; that 
shows itself, too, at the examinations. The underly- 
ing principle has always been to make the pupil know a 
lot of things ; whether that which he has learned will be 
useful to him in after life seems never to be considered. 
When one talks with one of these teachers, and tries to 
make it clear to him that a young man must be, above 
all, practically trained for life and its tasks, the answer 
is in nearly all cases that this is not within the proper 
scope of the school. ... I .believe we cannot afford to 
continue in this way. 

"... Our school system at present lacks, above all, 
its national basis. We must take German for the foun- 
dation of our gymnasia. We want to educate our 
pupils into young Germans, not young Greeks or Ro- 
mans. We must deviate from the basis which for cen- 
turies has had its full sway — away from the conventual 
education of the Middle Ages, where Latin was pre- 
dominant and a httle Greek into the bargain. That 
is no longer appropriate or judicious. German must 
become the basis. The German essay must become 
the central point around which everything else gravi- 
tates. . . . 

"In like manner I wish to see the national spirit 
promoted in history, geography, and legendary lore. 
Let us begin at home. . . . Above all, we must be thor- 

214 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

oughly conversant with the history of our own coun- 
try. When I went to school, the Great Elector was for 
us a nebulous being, the Seven Years' War was left un- 
considered, and history as a whole wound up for us 
with the end of the last century, with the French Revo- 
lution. The Wars of Liberation, the most important 
subject for the future citizen of the state, were not 
treated of at all, and I was only enabled, by hearing 
supplementary lectures delivered by my dear Professor 
Hinzpeter, to know something about this important 
period. And that is precisely the punctwin s aliens. 
Why are our young men brought to wrong views ? Why 
do so many confused, turbid minds among us turn 
Utopians? Why are they forever criticising our own 
government, lauding conditions in foreign countries? 
Because our young men do not know how our con- 
ditions have developed under the stress of necessity. 
Because they do not know that the roots of them lie in 
the age of the French Revolution. And it is because 
of this that I am fully convinced if this transitional 
process leading from the French Revolution into the 
nineteenth century were but explained to our youth, 
in simple, unpartisan fashion, they would gain an en- 
tirely clearer apprehension of the questions of to-day. 
They would then be able to complement at the uni- 
versity, by additional lectures, their knowledge about 
all these things. 

"... It is absolutely necessary to reduce the hours of 
study ^ . . . Well, gentlemen, by a perfectly honest score 
— Professor Hinzpeter will bear me out — each one of us 
had to spend at home, in preparation for school lessons, 
a daily matter of five and one-half, six and one-half, 
even seven hours. That was during the last year. Add 
to this six hours of school tuition and two hours for 



'Here the Kaiser went into 
details about the hours of study 

215 



during his school-days at Cas- 
sel. — Ed. 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

meals, and you can see for yourselves how much was left 
us of the day. . . . These are burdens which youths can- 
not for any great length of time endure with impunity. 
I am of opinion that this must and ought to be changed. 
. . . The schools, particularly the gymnasia, have made 
superhuman demands. They have, in my opinion, given 
us an oversupply of culture, more than the nation can 
stand, more than they themselves can stand. Prince 
Bismarck's saying, that about the ' cultured proletariat,' 
has deep meaning. All these so-called * hunger candi- 
dates,' especially the gentlemen of the press, are in most 
cases decadent gymnasians — and that means a danger 
for us. ... I shall, therefore, not sanction the establish- 
ment of any new gymnasium except its tangible need 
be first proven to me. We have now more than enough 
of them. 

"... This whole matter may be easily solved. . . . 
Let us say, in future : Classical gymnasia, giving classic 
culture ; another category of schools with real, practical 
knowledge, but no 'real gymnasia,' for the latter are 
neither one thing nor the other; they teach a semi- 
culture, and give but semi-fitness for the subsequent 
battle of life. ..." 

The Kaiser then went into details of practical im- 
portance only to German teachers and pupils, dwelling 
next on the frequency of too large classes, and on the 
unsatisfactory character and qualifications of many 
teachers, saying that Professor Hinzpeter's words, ''to 
educate, it is necessary to be educated one's self," were 
true. Then he went on : 

''We must get rid of the idea that a teacher's duty 
consists merely in giving so many lessons daily, and, 
they being over, his work is done. The school which 
now withdraws our youth from the domestic hearth 

216 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

for so large a portion of each day must also take upon 
itself the responsibility for, and the education of, this 
same youth. Educate our youth and you will have a 
different class of graduates. We must abandon the 
maxim that knowledge of books is everything, and 
the requirements of life afterwards nothing ; our young 
people must be trained for modern, practical life." 

Here the Kaiser quoted official statistics, showing 
that at that time there were in Prussia alone about 
five hundred and forty higher public schools, with 
some one hundred and thirty-five thousand pupils, and 
dwelt on the excessive number of school -hours and 
domestic preparatory work. Then he touched on the 
physical ailments and disabilities consequent upon this 
mental and bodily overburdening, saying: 

''Statistics showing the spread of these 'school ail- 
ments,' particularly myopia, are truly frightful. . . . Re- 
flect for a moment what kind of material this will make 
for purposes of our country's defence. I want soldiers. 
We need a strong, healthy generation, men who are also 
able and willing to serve the fatherland as intellectual 
guides and as officials. The great mass of these short- 
sighted young men are practically useless. A man who 
cannot use his eyes properly, of how much avail is he? 
In Prima the number of short-sighted pupils rises to 
seventy-four per cent. ... In this question of school 
hygiene, I hold that in the teachers' preparatory insti- 
tutions special courses in this matter must be made 
obligatory, and that every teacher, if in fair health, 
must take physical exercise, must become an expert in 
it, and must practise daily. ..." 

The effect of this speech, so unconventional and to 
the point, was astounding throughout Germany. On 

217 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

December 17th, the last session of this '' School Quest" 
conference took place, and the Kaiser made the closing 
speech. He said in it that if he had been silent in his 
opening address on the matter of reHgious instruction, 
he had done so because he thought that on that point 
his views were perfectly and generally understood. Of 
course, he desired ardently "that religious sentiment 
and the spark of Christian spirit be carefully and per- 
sistently nursed in the public schools." He thanked 
the members of the conference for their painstaking 
and efficient labors, and then went on : 

''Gentlemen, we live in a period of transition and 
progress into a new century, and it has ever been the 
prerogative of my house — I mean, my ancestors have 
always proven that they, feeling the pulse of their time, 
understood how to see ahead and discern what was com- 
ing. Thus they have remained at the head of every 
movement, directing it and guiding it to new goals. I 
believe I have been able to divine the new spirit hur- 
rying us on towards the end of this century. I am re- 
solved, as I have done in approaching the social reforms 
needed, to tread new paths in forming our young gen- 
eration, new paths being absolutely required. For if 
we do not tread these new paths now, we should be com- 
pelled to tread them within twenty years hence. . . . 

"Summing up briefly, I should like to say to you, 
before concluding, that there is another motto of my 
house : Suum cuique — that is, to each his own ; and not, 
to each the same. So far the road for our youth has 
led from the Thermopyl^ over Cannae to Rossbach and 
Vionville. I want to lead them hereafter from Sedan 
and Gravelotte over Leuthen and Rossbach back to 
Mantinea and to Thermopylae. I beheve this to be the 
right road, and that is the one we shall have to take 
with our youth. ..." 

218 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

Shortly after the Kaiser issued a decree to his Min- 
ister of Education, directing him to appoint from the 
members of the late conference a special committee 
whose task it should be to visit a number of the model 
and most progressive schools in Prussia and elsewhere, 
to study all the material bearing on the matter in hand, 
and then to prepare a report embodying definite prop- 
ositions for reform in the higher public schools. He 
dwelt in it, also, on the necessity of increasing the sal- 
aries paid teachers in these schools. The date of in- 
troducing, provisionally at first and on a small scale, 
the reform principles advocated by him, and in the 
main adopted by the members of the late conference, 
was fixed by the Kaiser as the beginning of April, 189 2. 

The school reform thus energetically inaugurated by 
him, however, took shape but very slowly. The influ- 
ence of the movement, indeed, was not perceptible in 
the country at large for years after. The staid and 
conservative "philologist party" in Germany, the one 
which the Kaiser specially abhorred, was too strong 
for him. But the ball had been set rolling, and public 
discussion between the adherents of "classicism" and 
of " technicalism," as it was called, drew ever- widening 
circles. Some few ** reform " gymnasia were established, 
and the one at Frankfort-on-Main made itself much 
talked about. 

Meanwhile, the recommendation made by the Kai- 
ser for the general adoption by pupils and students of 
manly, healthful sport bore fruit much more rapidly. 
Rowing and swimming more particularly became reg- 
ular college sports in Germany, and expert oarsman- 
ship came to be admired and emulated by these young 
men. The Kaiser fostered this development in every 
possible way, and on his birthday, on January 27, 1898, 
he issued a decree regulating the regattas and inter- 
collegiate contests, which had meanwhile become a reg- 

219 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

ular feature of student life in Germany, stripping them 
of some objectionable features that had recently crept 
in. He and the Empress have frequently attended on 
such occasions, and have awarded prizes to the victors, 
often prizes of considerable intrinsic value and to be 
held permanently, such as silver cups, wreaths, etc. 

WilHam II. has shown from the outset a strong liking 
for, and appreciation of, applied sciences. This fact is 
one of those best known of him. To mark his high es- 
timate and to encourage technical progress in Germany, 
the Kaiser, despite the systematic opposition of the 
"classicists" — still the dominant school in Germany, 
and holding the overwhelming majority of government 
and otherwise influential oflices in the empire — con- 
ferred upon the technical academies and high-schools 
in Prussia the privilege of conferring the degree of doc- 
tor, the title being designated and abbreviated as " Dr. 
Ing." This occasioned strenuous protests on the part 
of many university professors and others. To Profes- 
sor Riedler, the rector of the largest and best-equipped 
technical high - school in Germany, the one in Char- 
lottenburg, near Berhn, after that functionary had 
thanked the monarch for the new honor conferred, the 
Kaiser made an impromptu and interesting reply. In 
it he said: 

"... I wanted to put the technical high-schools in 
the foreground, for their mission in the near future will 
be an extremely important one. The tasks falling to 
their share are not only technical, but also social ones. 
The latter have so far not been solved in the way I 
should like. You can exert a strong influence upor 
social conditions because of your many and intimate 
relations to labor and to the laboring classes, and be- 
cause of the chances you have to mould methods of 
production. You are, therefore, destined to fulfil great 

220 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

tasks in the times to come. The methods now in vogue 
have, I am sorry to say, whoUy failed in the social sense. 
I count upon the technical high-schools. Social Democ- 
racy I look upon as ephemeral; it will run its course. 
But you must make plain to your pupils their social 
obligations to the working-people, and not neglect the 
great general missions confronting us and them. Once 
more, I count upon you. There will be neither lack 
of work for you nor of appreciation. Our technical 
achievements are widely recognized. We need, ourselves, 
much technical intelligence in the country. . . . The 
reputation of our German technical science is even to- 
day an enviable one. Our best families, after a period 
of aloofness, are now beginning to send their sons into 
technical careers, and I hope this will increase. In 
other countries, too, your reputation is a very high one, 
and foreigners speak with the greatest enthusiasm of 
the technical education received here. It is well that 
foreigners are also admitted to our institutions. That 
creates respect for our labors. In England, too, I 
found the greatest respect for our German technical 
science. Only recently I heard repeatedly how highly 
esteemed German technical science and achievements 
are in England. ..." 

At the centennial celebration of the technical high- 
school in Charlottenburg, on October 19, 1899, the 
Kaiser delivered another address, in the course of which 
he made use of the following language : 

*' . . . I do not doubt that the scientific efforts of the 
technical high-schools will not interfere with the nec- 
essary and close connection with practical life, and 
that these schools will continue to keep in intimate and 
incessant touch with the latter, drawing thence all the 
time new strength and sustenance. The statues of the 

221 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

two men which will henceforth ornament the frontage 
of this house * symbolically prove that. So long as you 
keep the memory of these two men alive, and strive 
after them, German technical science will always be 
able to compete honorably in the race with other na- 
tions. . . . 

*■ . . . Thus the new century will find us ready and 
well prepared for the tasks which the rapidly grow- 
ing development of civilization everywhere calls upon 
technical science to solve. Astounding have been the 
triumphs of technical science in our days; but they 
were only possible because the Creator of heaven and 
earth has endowed man with the capacity and the im- 
pulse to penetrate deeper and deeper into the mys- 
teries of nature, to ascertain the laws and the forces 
of nature, in order to make them serviceable for man- 
kind's welfare. Thus, like every other true science, 
technics also leads us back to the origin of all things, to 
the Almighty Creator, and, humbly thanking Him, we 
must bow in the dust before Him. ..." 

It was fully ten years after the Kaiser had first start- 
ed out reforming the higher schools of Germany, on 
November 26, 1900, that he once more took up the task. 
In a long and explicit decree of that date he ordered 
that the reform measures which had begun to be prac- 
tically applied in 1892 be continued and considerably 
amplified on the same lines. He predicated the fol- 
lowing : 

The three classes of higher schools in Germany — viz., 
the gymnasium, the " real gymnasium," and the ** upper 
real school," were henceforth to be considered, each in 
its own sphere, as of equal value. 

To specialize each of them more than had hitherto 

'Krupp and Siemens. — Ed. 
222 



THE KAISER AND HIGHER EDUCATION 

been the case. "I particularly wish to emphasize," 
said the Kaiser, in this paragraph of his document, ** that 
in view of the great importance which a knowledge of 
English has acquired, more attention be devoted to 
that language hereafter in the gymnasia." 

While unmistakable progress had been made since 
1892 in the methods of tuition, more had to be done in 
that line. The principals had to remember that mul- 
tum, non multa, was the proper motto for them. Teach- 
ers must devote less attention to formalism and more 
to the spirit of what they teach. 

In modern languages, the ability to acquire conver- 
sational command of them, and a good knowledge of 
the leading authors, were to be more considered. 

In a final paragraph the Kaiser recommended that 
the whole scheme of reform was to proceed on the plan 
practically tested for a number of years in several Prus- 
sian cities, particularly Frankfort-on-Main and Altona. 
That had been the establishment and operation of 
schools conducted on the principles laid down by the 
"School Quest" commission in 1890. 



XIV 

RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

The Kaiser's early artistic talent — One of his paintings at a 
Berlin exposition — His intercourse with Baron von Berger 
and with many other artists — How he decorated the or- 
chestral leader Muck — His address to the members of the 
royal theatres — "Nurse the ancient traditions" — His con- 
ception of art and its mission — Donating the Schack collec- 
tion to the city of Munich — Conferring the highest Prussian 
decoration on Menzel — His sharp condemnation of the Ger- 
man " Secession " — Private lectures to him by leading in- 
ventors — His speech at the bicentenary of the Prussian 
Academy of Sciences — Attending the Nuremberg celebra- 
tion of the Germanic Museum — Bavarian indignation at an 
imperial telegram. 

In complete accord with the Kaiser's peculiar char- 
acter, and with the exalted conception he has of his 
duties and prerogatives as a monarch, he has since the 
beginning of his reign not alone shown a strong and 
abidin.g interest in German art and science, but has 
also guided both, but more especially art and litera- 
ture, in the path they should go to be in consonance 
with his own convictions. In fact, in this particular 
he has shown, almost more than in anything else, his 
autocratic tendencies. Opinion as to the results thus 
achieved by him, for good or evil, is very much divided, 
not only in Germany proper, but the wide world over. 
That they have, however, been very marked ones there 
is no doubt. He has powerfully influenced the whole 
current of German aspirations and achievement in art, 

224 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

literature, and science. He has greatly circumscribed 
and narrowed the independent movement in German 
art and literature known as the " Secession." A large 
part of contemporaneous German sculpture and paint- 
ing bears his impress. 

Unquestionably, he inherited strong artistic lean- 
ings, coupled with some talent, from his mother, the 
Empress Frederick, who shared her tastes and skill 
in that respect with all the other daughters of Queen 
Victoria. She caused this nascent talent of the boy to 
be systematically trained. A painter of mediocre gifts, 
Knackfuss, in Cassel, taught the Kaiser what he knows 
of the use of the brush and pencil. The Kaiser has 
kept on practising ever since, but after attaining to 
the throne he did a great deal more in the line of 
suggestions, orders, and criticism. 

In 1886 an oil-painting by the then Prince William 
was exhibited at the annual Berlin art exposition, bear- 
ing its maker's full name and title. It was a land- 
scape, showing a snow-capped mountain in the back- 
ground and the sea and some naval vessels in gun- 
practice in the fore. The painting, however, did not 
create much of a sensation at the time, and it was, to 
tell the truth, slightly crude in execution and amateur- 
ish in conception. With the pencil the Kaiser has done 
some better work, though never anything which would 
have attracted attention by its intrinsic merit. 

Architectural plans and drawings submitted to him 
he has often altered, rapidly indicating his ideas by 
rough sketches on the margin. He suggested to his old 
teacher, Knackfuss, historical canvases on given top- 
ics, and sketched the symbolical drawing, '* Nations of 
Europe, Guard Your Most Cherished Treasures" (aimed 
at China), and subsequently presented copies of it to 
various monarchs. He designed models for the or- 
namentation of various German war - vessels, among 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

them the iron-clad cruiser Bismarck. The draft of the 
gigantic bronze archangel St. Michael, the German 
patron saint, now standing on the battle-field of St. 
Privat, in Lorraine, was made by him, and used by the 
sculptor Schott. The German battle painter Roch- 
ling received sketches and suggestions for his work 
from the Kaiser. The same may be said of many other 
painters and sculptors, like Sir Hubert Herkomer, Vil- 
ma Parlaghy; the American sculptress in Berlin, Mrs. 
Cadwalader Guild ; the Polish painter Von Kossak, the 
German veteran artist Menzel, and others. 

The Kaiser's greatest love belongs to the stage. He 
is of opinion that it is a monarch's duty and privilege 
to foster, superintend, and guide the stage, as it is one 
of the most effective means of influencing the mind and 
convictions of the masses and to mould them to his 
own. In his own language, it is one of his "best weap- 
ons." It is known how he has sketched a number of 
plays himself, and how he has furnished material, ideas, 
or the central plot of others to a number of German 
writers. At first it was Ernst von Wildenbruch, un- 
doubtedly one of the most powerful German drama- 
tists, with whom he thus collaborated in several his- 
torical pieces, like ''Emperor Henry IV.," ''Die Quit- 
zows," and others, but Wildenbruch had too much 
independence of character and too high an opinion 
of his own gifts to bend sufiiciently to his imperial 
colaborer's caprices and desires, and the partnership, 
after a while, when it had become irksome to both, was 
dissolved. Then the Kaiser turned to a retired army 
ofiicer, a former artillery captain, Joseph Lauff by 
name, and used him as his mannikin. With him the 
case stood otherwise. Lauff complied with every im- 
perial whim, but his ability to realize concretely his 
exalted partner's ideas and suggestions did not corre- 
spond with the degree of his willingness so to do. None 

226 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

of the plays furnished the German stage by the firm of 
Lauff & Hohenzollern amounts to much, and none of 
them will live. 

The Berlin author and theatrical manager, L'Ar- 
ronge, had the Kaiser for partner in the rearrangement 
and modernizing of " Regina," an old opera by Lortz- 
ing, and Weber's romantic opera " Oberon " was sim- 
ilarly treated by the Kaiser. In both cases a fair 
amount of skill is shown. The Kaiser has a very ex- 
tensive acquaintance among theatrical folk of every 
kind, and on innumerable occasions, both during the 
preparation and performance of plays, has testified to 
his intense interest in this line. Everybody admits his 
natural, instinctive gift for stage-setting, scenery, for 
bringing out theatrical effects, and for tasteful and 
novel costuming. In those lines his incentive has been 
of value to the German stage. 

Baron von Berger, an Austrian, with whom the Kai- 
ser had become very well acquainted during his several 
visits to Vienna, and who, as a successful and original- 
minded theatrical manager had held frequent converse 
with the German monarch on stage matters, became, in 
June, 1899, the director of the newly erected Deutsche 
Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, a model institution. The 
Kaiser sent a sympathetic message to Berger, ex- 
pressing gratification at the latter's assumption of these 
duties. Subsequently Berger was summoned before 
the Kaiser in order to explain all his plans, and, later 
on, gave this detailed account of his impressions : 

"... Whenever Emperor William 11. has a conversation 
with anybody, there is no help — he is bound to extract that 
person's real opinions. . . . Singular enough is such a con- 
versation with him, however, and it requires iron nerves 
to hold out, or one collapses. As soon as that moment ar- 
rives, the Kaiser stops. He confines himself almost wholly 
to questions. Rarely he develops his own views. But when 

227 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

he does, an astonishing delicacy of sentiment, coupled with 
a sharply defined and aphoristic mode of expressing him- 
self, is displayed. In his questions he shows the born 
leader. . . . First he sounds his man. A few answers, and 
he knows his ground. Then comes question after question, 
and he advances closer and closer, until the whole topic has 
been wrung out and nothing more remains to be told. In 
these questions he betrays an unusually keen and compre- 
hensive intellect. . . . None of his questions is off the mark. 
He steers direct for his aim, and is bound to learn all one 
knows of a given matter. His range of reading, too, and his 
retentive memory are amazing. From many of his remarks 
I could see that he knows modern literature thoroughly. . . . 
His wide range of reading is facilitated by his capacity of rap- 
idly imbibing the essence of a book. Is he in sympathy with 
modern German literature? I think not. Art is looked upon 
by him as the chief educational agency at hand. How does 
he view modern art? Not very favorably. Modern German 
dramatic art does not satisfy him for various reasons ; for one 
thing, he loves powerful, heroic deeds and events which sway 
the destinies of nations. Can a kaiser, standing on the sum- 
mit of a great empire, and having grown up in the shadow of 
great events, feel otherwise about art?" 

Referring to Joseph LaufE and his collaboration with 
the Kaiser, Baron von Berger says: 

" He is not great enough as a dramatist to be able to realize 
the grand conceptions of the Kaiser, who looks for grandeur, 
'world-moving* characters, pomp and pageant, and glorious 
beauty in art. ..." 

The chief orchestral leader at the royal theatres in 
Berlin, Dr. Muck, personally conducted, a couple of 
years ago, an unusually fine concert before the Kaiser 
and his court in Potsdam. The Kaiser had mentioned 
his intention of decorating with his own hand, before 
the entire audience, this artist, for whom, as a musi- 
cian, he has a high regard. It was the order of the Red 
Eagle he wished to confer, and during the concert he 
begged the chief court-marshal. Count Eulenburg, to 

228 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

bring him the insignia of this order. This functionary, 
however, repHed that he was unable to lay his hands on 
these insignia at a moment's notice, and out in Pots- 
dam. But the Kaiser replied: "Why, nothing easier. 
Just hunt up one of my aides-de-camp and borrow his 
Red Eagle for me." Which was done, and the Kaiser 
then strode up to Muck, affixing the decoration to his 
bosom, smilingly saying: " For the moment I have un- 
hooked it from the breast of one of my aides, since I 
wanted to decorate you myself." 

The day after the tenth anniversary of his accession 
had been celebrated, in 1898, the Kaiser assembled 
around him the members of the three royal stages in 
Berlin, and standing in the centre of this vast group, 
in the concert-hall of the Royal Opera-house, he made 
them a speech, in which occurred some significant pas- 
sages. He said: 

'*...! am of opinion that the royal stage is an instru- 
ment of the monarch, just like the school and the uni- 
versity, and that its aim must be to educate the grow- 
ing generation for the task of preserving the highest 
intellectual possessions of our beautiful German father- 
land. The theatre must also contribute to the culture 
of mind and character, and to the ennobling of our 
ethical conceptions. The theatre, too, is one of my 
weapons. ... It is a monarch's duty to foster the stage, 
and both my father and grandfather believed this. ... I 
thank you for cherishing so ably our grand, sonorous 
tongue, and also the creations of our intellectual heroes 
as well as those of other nations, and that you have in- 
terpreted them so well. I also thank you for fulfilling 
so conscientiously my every desire, expressed or im- 
plied. Joyfully I can say now that all nations watch 
attentively our royal theatres and admiringly con- 
template our achievements. ... I ask you to continue 

229 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

in assisting me, each of you in his place and in his way, 
to serve in the spirit of ideahsm, and to fight the battle 
against materialism and against those un-German no- 
tions to which, I am sorry to say, so many German 
stages have succumbed. ..." 

Some of the above remarks were aimed at the "new 
German drama " and its leaders — above all, Hauptmann 
and Sudermann, both of whom the Kaiser has repeat- 
edly taken pains to censure and discriminate against. 
How far he went in this respect is shown by the fact 
that when the national judges of Germany had twice 
awarded the great Schiller prize to Gerhart Hauptmann 
for his symbolical drama, "The Sunken Bell," the 
Kaiser nullified their decision and gave the prize to 
Ernst von Wildenbruch. 

In 1902 the Kaiser presented, on the stage of his 
theatre in Wiesbaden, a series of specially gorgeous 
performances of Weber's rearranged opera "Oberon," 
and after one of these performances he received, in 
special audience, in May of that year, the editor of 
the Paris woman's journal. La Fronde, Mademoiselle 
Marguerite Durand, in the foyer of the theatre. He 
made some interesting remarks to her, saying, among 
other things: 

"Not only an important factor in instructing the 
masses, in propagating sound ethics, must the stage be, 
but also the embodiment of elegance and beauty and 
the realization of the artist's dream. We must not 
leave the performance depressed by the memory of 
saddening or demoralizing pictures, of bitter disap- 
pointments, but invigorated afresh to do battle for our 
ideals, and feeling happier than before. . . . Life is sad 
enough, and part of its daily doings is to put before our 
eyes the most dispiriting reality. Those modern au- 

230 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

thors who take pains to make us see on the stage such 
disillusioning pictures have unhealthy ideals, and per- 
form a work which does more evil than good." 

Then the Kaiser, speaking his French in his usual 
jerky, rapid style, came to chat of the ideas that had 
dominated him in presenting " Oberon" in the guise it 
had been seen that evening, and to the Frenchwoman's 
admiring comment he made answer: 

*'.... The public, believe me, madame, is at heart of 
my opinion. This 'Oberon,' whose fairy-like decora- 
tions and whose stage-setting have pleased so much to- 
night, has been performed here in Wiesbaden, inside of 
two years, no fewer than seventy times, always with 
popular applause. Htilsen ^ has outdone himself. He 
is a splendid fellow, who understands my ideas and 
knows how to translate them into reality. He is an 
incessantly active, a great, a very great, artist. . . ." 

In 1894, Count von Schack, a noted art connoisseur 
and collector, died in Munich and left as a legacy to the 
Kaiser his famous collection of paintings and sculpt- 
ures, housed in a building of classic outline and spe- 
cially constructed for the purpose. The citizens of 
Munich were quite wrought up about this, fearing the 
removal of these art treasures to Berlin or Potsdam. 
The Kaiser, however, not only deeded over the collec- 
tion itself to the city of Munich, but he also purchased 
its site and the structure containing the collection, and 
presented them to Munich. On May 14, 1894, a delega- 
tion of aldermen from Munich waited on the monarch 
in the New Palace, Potsdam, to present the formal 



* Herr von Hiilsen here re- 
ferred to, after serving as "in- 
tendant" of the Kaiser's theatre 
in Wiesbaden for some years, 



was recently appointed general 
manager of the royal drama and 
opera in Berlin, displacing Count 
Hochberg. — Ed. 



231 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

thanks of Bavaria's capital. The Kaiser repHed to 
their address in a very friendly manner. 

On May 2, 1894, the Berlin Academy of Arts cele- 
brated its bicentenary in the presence of the Kaiser, 
who addressed the members at some length, saying: 

". . . To you has been intrusted the sacred mis- 
sion of nourishing the flame of genuine artistic en- 
thusiasm, without which all toil in the field of art 
becomes worthless. As true and chosen guardians of 
this holy fire, keep firm hold of the traditional ideals, 
and you can always count on my imperial protection 
and fostering care. ..." 

The deep interest felt by William II. in all art mat- 
ters is illustrated by his frequent visits to studios of 
painters and sculptors, both in Berlin and elsewhere. 
On such occasions he has often behaved with great and 
unaffected amiability, chatting on art life and cognate 
topics in unconventional style. He has also been for 
many years a generous patron of art, and a large part 
of his private revenues has been spent in works ordered 
by him. Financially speaking, there has never been a 
Prussian ruler during whose reign artists have flour- 
ished so greatly. To testify publicly to his high appre- 
ciation of art, he created, on New-year's Day, 1899, Pro- 
fessor Menzel a knight of the Black Eagle, the highest 
Prussian decoration, usually conferred only on crowned 
heads or high dignitaries. The order carries with it a 
patent of nobility. Menzel, the Nestor of Berlin artists, 
had earned the monarch's special encomiums because 
of his series of fine paintings glorifying Frederick the 
Great and other Prussian kings. In his letter to the 
director of the Art Academy, Anton von Werner, the 
Kaiser refers to this when he says that he wished 
specially to honor Menzel "as a token of gratitude for 

232 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

the services rendered my house." And in another 
letter to the Society of Berlin Artists, the Kaiser, after 
thanking that body for the appreciation shown at the 
signal honor conferred upon one of their craft, dwells 
once more on Menzel's patriotism, and then expresses 
the hope that his example will be followed, and that 
German art will indeed be national in its spirit. 

This last phrase was once more aimed at the " Seces- 
sion," whose modem methods and whose broad, cos- 
mopolitan spirit he abhors. 

He administered another stinging rebuke to the 
school of " Secession" on December i8, 1901. On that 
day he had invited the sculptors — about two score of 
them — who had executed all the marble images of his 
ancestors in the Siegesallee, the main avenue cross- 
ing the Thiergarten, Berlin's finest public park. This 
''ancestral gallery" the Kaiser had paid for out of his 
own pocket, and the whole work, one of considerable 
magnitude, and involving an outlay of close on to a 
million dollars, had been done according to his own 
suggestions and, in many cases, his explicit commands. 
The sculptors engaged in this work for a period of about 
three years had, of course, been selected by him, and 
were one and all sound in the matter of ''traditional 
ideals." On this particular day he gave them a ban- 
quet in the royal castle, Berlin, and the affair must 
have been highly enjoyable for all concerned. There 
was an entire absence of pomp or court etiquette, all 
his guests being seated at one long table, with the 
imperial Maecenas in the middle of the long row. Tow- 
ards the close of the feast the Emperor made a long 
speech, in which occurred several passages of general 
interest. He said : 

". . . The historian of my house. Professor Dr. 
Koser, furnished me with the material submitted to 

233 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

you, gentlemen, and which enabled you to put my ideas 
into tangible form. ... It was my opinion that I 
could show to the world the easiest solution for artistic 
tasks like mine — not commissions, not competitions, 
no prize juries, but simply, in the same way it had been 
done in the classic age and in mediaeval times, by direct 
communication between patron and artist, thus furnish- 
ing the best guarantee for the successful shaping and 
completion of the whole work. I am, therefore, under 
special obligation to Professor Reinhold Begas^ for as- 
suring me that there was quite sufficient talent in Ber- 
lin to carry out, most satisfactorily, such an idea as 
mine. ... In art, as in nature, the same eternal, im- 
mutable law governs — the law of beauty, the law of 
harmony, the law of aesthetics. This law the ancients 
apprehended so amazingly, so overpoweringly, that we 
to-day, with our modern sentiments and with all our 
knowledge, are proud if we are told, after completing 
something especially good: This is almost as fine as 
they made it nineteen hundred years ago — but only 
almost, remember. 

" It is in this sense and under this impression I should 
like to say to you: Sculpture has thus far remained 
almost totally free from the influence of the so-called 
modern ideas and currents. It still stands high and 
pure. Keep it so, and do not allow yourselves to be 
misled by gibes and by the criticism of the multitude, 
nor to abandon the principles upon which sculpture 
is founded. . . . Under the flag of that much-abused 
word, liberty, many fall away into lawlessness, anarchy, 



* Professor Begas, after enjoy- 
ing the Kaiser's favor in a very- 
marked degree for many years, 
and who was chosen by him to 
execute a number of monumental 
sculptural works, including the 
great national monument to 

234 



William I. in Berlin, as well as 
the one to Bismarck in front of 
the Reichstag structure, has re- 
cently fallen from grace, and is 
at present in outspoken disfavor 
with his imperial master the Kai- 
ser. — Ed. 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

and self-sufficiency. Whoever turns his back upon the 
law of beauty loses the sentiment of harmony and 
aesthetics, . . . and whoever begins to see his main 
work in a special direction, in a special solution of the 
purely technical tasks of art, sins against the primal 
sources of art. But, more than this, art has the 
mission to aid in educating the masses. She is to 
enable the lower classes, after their hard toil and labor 
is over for the day, to revive and be lifted up above 
the ordinary in contemplation of the ideal. To us, 
to the German people, the great ideals have become 
permanent possessions, whereas the other nations have 
lost them — more or less. Solely the German people 
remains, and our special mission it is to hoard, to 
foster, and to continue these great thoughts. And 
one of these ideals consists in furnishing the perspiring 
and toiling masses the possibility to rejoice in beauty 
and to lift themselves up, for the time being, out of 
their every-day circle of narrow, brutish thoughts. If, 
however, art, as is nowadays often the case, does noth- 
ing but to represent this human misery in even more 
repulsive form than reality furnishes us with, she in- 
jures and sins against the German people. The nurt- 
ure of ideals is the greatest task of civilization, and if 
in that respect we mean to be and remain a model to 
the other nations, our whole country must help in the 
task. And if civilization means to fulfil its mission 
entirely, it must percolate and permeate down to the 
lowest strata of the population. That it can only do 
if art stretches out her hand, if art lifts up instead 
of pulling down into the gutter. As ruler of this coun- 
try I feel it sometimes bitterly when art, as embodied 
in her masters, does not oppose such currents ener- 
getically enough. I do not deny for a moment that 
there is many a serious-minded and ambitious disciple 
among the adherents of those currents, many a one, 

235 ' 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

perhaps, guided by the best intentions. But he is, 
nevertheless, on the wrong path. . . ." 

On January 25, 1902, the Kaiser paid a visit to the 
Berlin Museum of Applied Art, there to dedicate a 
portrait of the late Emperor and Empress Frederick, 
who were also the founders of this fine institution 
which has done so much to revive the cunning handi- 
craft and the artistic sense of the artisan in mediaeval 
Germany. He was welcomed by Professor Dr. Richard 
Schone, the chief curator of the Berlin museums, who 
made an address, to which the monarch replied. He 
first paid a graceful tribute to the memory of his 
parents, and then he dwelt upon the great mission of 
this particular museum, pointing out to its pupils the 
example furnished by their ancestors, and that in a 
period of renewed material prosperity, such as Ger- 
many had not seen for centuries, it was their task to 
revive the old and half -forgotten traditions of artistic 
handiwork nobly done. Then he said : 

"... The priceless collections garnered under this 
roof testify to the art and the love of art which lived 
in our forefathers. ... It will be carrying out the in- 
tentions of my parents to bring this sentiment back 
once more to the hearts of the common people. . . . 
Artistic form must always go back for its inspiration 
to the approved beauty of former ages. . . . What was 
beautiful once remains beautiful forevermore. ..." 

For the exact sciences, inventions drawing their 
breath from these realms, and for technical progress, the 
Kaiser has, as the world knows, steadily evinced the 
liveliest interest. It is his never-ending care to keep 
himself abreast, in general outlines as in details, of this 
perpetual advance. Nothing of interest escapes him, 

236 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

and experts like Slaby, Rathenau, or Riedler, discov- 
erers and inventors like Roentgen, Koch, or Behring, 
are frequently invited to explain or demonstrate to 
him, en petit comite, the latest successes of exact science. 
However, he turns his attention, too, to other matters, 
as was recently shown when he listened to a series of 
private lectures delivered before him by Professor 
Delitzsch, the noted Assyriologist, on the non-divine 
origin of the Old - Testamentary history of creation. 
All agree in saying that the Kaiser's nimble and acute 
intellect usually enables him to get very quickly at the 
gist of a matter, never mind how abstruse, and that in 
his questions he shows a surprising amount of well- 
digested and comprehensive knowledge on every possi- 
ble subject. Besides which he has an ever-ready and 
very efficient tool by which he is greatly assisted in all 
this — viz., the Literary Bureau of the Prussian Depart- 
ment of the Interior, which supplies him daily with 
clippings on a wide range of topics. 

The Berlin Academy of Sciences commemorated 
with considerable pomp, on March 19, 1900, the bicen- 
tenary of its existence. At the instance of the Kaiser, 
the main ceremony took place in the gorgeous White 
Hall of the royal castle. A small number of honorary 
members were created on this occasion, among them 
Dr. A. D. White, then American ambassador to Ger- 
many. The Kaiser announced his special gifts to the 
institution, including large sums for the publication 
of the complete works of Wilhelm von Humboldt and 
of other important scientific works, and the list of 
special appropriations made for this occasion by the 
Royal Ministry of Education. In a speech of some 
length he then answered the oration of the minister, 
Dr. Bosse. Among other things he said, first pointing 
out the unceasing solicitude shown for the academy 
by his predecessors, above all by Frederick the Great : 

237 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

". . . In increasing the number of chairs in the 
philosophic - historical class, especially those for the 
special study and research of the German tongue, I 
had in view the fact that now, under a reunited empire, 
this branch of science deserves to be fostered with 
particular care, and the fundamental charter of this 
institution, of the year 1700, lays stress on this point. 
But it was also necessary to increase the chairs for 
the study and research of the physico -mathematical 
class, in view of the incomparably heightened impor- 
tance of it and because of the enormous progress in 
technical sciences. ... In this unselfish devotion to 
science, to which the academy owes much, and which 
guarantees its continuance and the fruitfulness of its 
labors, this institution at the same time serves the 
divine will, whose decrees bid mankind to penetrate 
deeper and ever deeper into the knowledge of God's 
purposes. ..." 

On June 16, 1902, the Kaiser and a number of other 
German sovereigns attended the jubilee of the Ger- 
manic Museum in Nuremberg. The Kaiser presented 
to that institution a valuable collection of historical 
seals, including those of all the Teutonic rulers, from 
Pippin to Francis II., enclosed in a very finely carved 
cabinet. After speeches by the director of the museum, 
Von Bezold, and by the protector of it, the Prince- 
Regent of Bavaria, the Kaiser read, in a penetrating 
voice that could be heard over the wide expanse, a 
document in which he briefly reviewed the history of 
the institution from its foundation by King Louis I. 
of Bavaria and King John of Saxony to the present, 
and drew attention to the patriotic purposes subserved 
by it. 

From August 6th to 9th, 1902, the Kaiser was on a 
visit to Reval, Russia, where he met Czar Nicholas II. 

238 



RELATIONS TO ART AND SCIENCE 

On his return to Stettin, August loth, he learned for 
the first time of an incident in the Bavarian ParHa- 
ment. The Ultramontane members of it had refused, 
in a spirit of pique at the dismissal of one of their 
number from a high government office, to grant the 
customary sums for Bavarian art purposes. In his 
impulsive way, the Kaiser at once wired to the Prince- 
Regent of Bavaria as follows : 

** Just returned from my voyage, I read with deepest 
indignation of the refusal to grant the sums you asked 
for art purposes. I hasten to express my anger at the 
vile ingratitude which finds vent in this action, an in- 
gratitude not alone shown to the House of Wittelsbach, 
but also towards your august person, which has con- 
sistently shone as a model for the promotion of and 
help to art. I beg of you to permit me to place at 
your disposal the sum required to enable you to carry 
out fully those art projects which you have in mind." 

The Prince- Regent, however, answered in a rather 
reserved manner, several of the sentences in his reply 
being generally construed as a reminder to the Kaiser 
that he was needlessly meddling with Bavarian internal 
affairs, and winding up with the declaration that a 
wealthy member of the Bavarian Upper House had 
already donated the entire sum needed. 

Throughout Bavaria, however, indignation was open- 
ly expressed at what the local press styled ' ' this un- 
warranted interference in their home politics." At 
the reconvening of the Reichstag, some months later, 
a Bavarian leader of the Centre, Dr. Schaedler, lent 
voice to this indignation. 



XV 

FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

Dedicating the free port of Hamburg — Inspecting the ships of 
the North German Lloyd — Promising all possible aid to 
German shipping — The Kaiser explains his programme on 
board a Lloyd steamer — Lauding the progressive spirit of the 
Stettin citizens — His ideas about aquatic sports — The Dort- 
mund-Ems Canal — His despatch after the great Lloyd fire 
in Hoboken — Congratulating the record-breaker Deutsch- 
land — Significant words in Danzig — Emphasizing the need 
of a large navy. 

There is no room for doubt that the phenomenal 
advance of Germany in commerce and navigation dur- 
ing the last decade is in good measure due to the Kai- 
ser's never-ceasing encouragement, to the intelligent 
interest shown by him in this progress, and to the 
pressure he exerted upon German national legislation 
favoring such advance. 

Some of his speeches contain such crisp, telling phrases 
in behalf of commercial and trans-oceanic expansion, 
that they have since become mottoes for the German 
people. His graphic saying, ''Our future lies on the 
water," which he interjected into an address on the 
opening of the large, new harbor of Stettin, belongs to 
this category. 

A few months after his accession, on October 29, 
1888, in laying the corner-stone of the new free port of 
Hamburg, he inaugurated the ceremonies by three taps 
with his mallet, saying: 

240 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

"In honor of God. 

" For the fatherland's welfare. 

*'For Hamburg's progress." 

And at the great feast afterwards given by the city 
of Hamburg, the Kaiser spoke appreciatively of the 
patriotism of the citizens, of his former visits there, 
and of his steadfast efforts to preserve peace and to 
promote general prosperity. Then he said: 

'' Gentlemen, this is a day full of meaning in the di- 
rection indicated. The great work the completion of 
which we all celebrate is the first one in a series of im- 
portant measures intended to benefit the interior de- 
velopment of the empire, and it gives me special pleas- 
ure that it is your city which is the first to profit. . . . 
You are doing great service for the fatherland, for it is 
you who unite us by invisible bonds with far-away con- 
tinents, bringing thence their products. And it is you 
who scatter our ideas and convictions over the whole 
world. For this the fatherland owes you vast thanks." 

On April i, 1890, the Kaiser laid the foundation- 
stone in Bremen for a monument to his grandfather. 
He delivered himself at some length on this occasion, 
saying, among other things: 

" . . .1 deem it my highest duty to safeguard the em- 
pire in the enjoyment of all which we have a right to 
claim, and to foster and enlarge our interests. Es- 
pecially, though, am I glad to have this opportunity 
for assuring you that I, so far as my government and I 
are able to do so, mean to see to it that the commerce 
and the magnificent enterprise of your city be allowed 
to unfold themselves quietly and to flourish more and 
more." 

16 241 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

, From Bremen he undertook, on the same day, a trip 
to Bremerhaven, where he inspected thoroughly the 
ships, docks, warehouses, and other buildings of the 
North German Lloyd. While on board the Fulda, one 
of the large Lloyd steamers, he said: 

"... I can say that among the manifold interests 
which I have to keep an eye on, so far as my govern- 
ment and the empire are concerned, there is scarcely a 
thing which fills me with greater sympathy than the 
life and progress of your society. Every new ship you 
order built, every success which your ships score, every 
new line which you establish, is a source of pleasure and 
pride to me, and not only to me, but to many others in 
the interior of the country who feel the same thrill of 
joy at your steady advance. . . . 

"Of course, it is one of my chief cares to maintain 
peace. . . . For trade and shipping can only prosper 
when business is protected under the aegis of lasting 
peace. There may be moments when the business 
world begins to indulge fears, and when the outsider 
thinks that times of danger are approaching. But do 
not lose heart — often things do not look so black when 
viewed closely. 

"To use a simile, I should like to tell you of a little 
incident from which I, as an enthusiastic sailor, and 
conforming to a German habit, which makes one draw 
conclusions, judging natural phenomena by one's self, 
deduce a lesson for all of us. It happened on my first 
trip with our naval squadron to the Baltic. We were 
running through thick fog since three in the morning. 
Only the tooting and shrieking of the steam -sirens 
were audible, and from time to time cannon-shots, which 
indicated the position of the various vessels. At eight 
o'clock the course was to be changed. The fog on 
board was so thick that one could not even see as far 

242 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

as the chart-house, let alone seeing another ship, and 
there were doubts as to how the change of course could 
be effected. It was, however, effected, and about an 
hour later my Hohenzollern suddenly emerged out of 
the fog-bank, and we were going, with a stiff breeze, 
under a sapphire sky and bright sunshine. In the rear, 
however, the fog still lay like an enormous cloud upon 
the surface of the sea, and only the shrill sounds of the 
sirens could be heard from that direction. But all at 
once, high up in the mist, apparently borne aloft by the 
hand of a cherub, the German flag was seen flying on- 
ward. It was the admiral's flag, flying from the mast- 
head of the Kaiser, which, leading the division and still 
in the fog, had followed us. . . . Ten minutes later the 
entire squadron appeared, in faultless order and steer- 
ing the new course, issuing, one by one, out of the fog. 

"Well, gentlemen, let this little incident teach us 
that, no matter if our country, our navy, and our 
commerce are to have their dark hours and their 
fog-banks, they will emerge unscathed, and they will 
reach their destination, according to the good motto, 
* We Germans fear God, and naught beside.' 

''And, therefore, I should like to ask you: When- 
ever you read in the papers or notice in public affairs 
things which do not seem to please you, which you do 
not understand, and whenever my remarks or con- 
versations are interpreted in all sorts of ways — as 
happens, I am sorry to say, very frequently — always 
remember what I have just told you, and remember 
also what one of the ancient German emperors once 
said : * A Kaiser's word is not to be twisted nor mis- 
read!'" 

On June i, 1896, the Kaiser sent a telegram to the 
North German Lloyd, apprising the directors that 
he had granted permission to all German merchant 

243 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

vessels whose captains were inscribed on the rolls of 
the naval militia to carry the iron cross on their flag, as 
a mark of distinction and appreciation. 

The Kaiser undertook, on March 25, 1898, an ex- 
cursion on board the fastest Lloyd steamer, the Wil- 
helm der Grosse, starting from Bremerhaven, then pass- 
ing Heligoland, and some distance north. The trip 
was to inaugurate the service of the new vessel. On 
board, during dinner, the Kaiser was toasted by one of 
the Lloyd directors, Plate, and made a reply, saying : 

"... You have mentioned in a flattering way my 
efforts to safeguard peace. If it has been given me 
to preserve peace during the whole time I have been 
at the head of affairs, we must remember the heroic 
form of the first German Emperor of Hohenzollern 
blood, who with the expenditure of his whole strength 
created for us in the army that bulwark which alone has 
vouchsafed peace to the fatherland up to this hour. 
For only by living under the blessings of peace may a 
nation develop. We, who are assembled to-day so 
joyously on board of this ship, could never have done 
so if peace had not been kept and enforced. . . . May 
it be permitted to Germany, striving ever onward, to 
develop her trade and her material interests into a 
healthy blossom. May the North German Lloyd suc- 
ceed in remaining the first in the field, and to collabo- 
rate in this aim." 

A few months later, on June 20, 1898, the Kaiser 
was on board the Pretoria, of the Hamburg- American 
line, off Cuxhaven. The president of the North Ger- 
man Regatta Association, Burgomaster Versmann, of 
Hamburg, pointed out in a speech that the Pretoria 
was the largest merchant vessel afloat at the time. 
He said this fact was significant, because Germany had 

244 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 



at last seriously engaged in the task of regaining the 
first position in the world's sea-trade, a position which 
during the Middle Ages she had held, but which un- 
kind fate and grave national reverses had wrested from 
her grasp. The Kaiser had listened attentively to this 
speech, and after the cheers which Versmann's remarks 
had elicited had died away, he first spoke of the high 
value of aquatic sports, and expressed gratification 
that the well-timed races of the North German Regatta 
Association had given him a chance to open up the 
Kiel regattas by these races at the mouth of the Elbe. 
He spoke of the great hygienic benefits to be derived 
from rowing and sailing, and that this sport gave nerves 
of steel. Then he dwelt, as he had done on many 
previous occasions, on the interest he felt in commerce 
and industry, and acknowledged a debt of gratitude 
to the merchants and ship-owners of the Hansa towns, * 
who had often furnished him with valuable hints and 
original views which had been of subsequent service 
to him. It was due, in part, to his intercourse with 
the enterprising and far-sighted citizens of the Hansa 
towns that his views had undergone considerable 
modification, and that he had become firmly convinced 
of the absolute necessity for Germany to expand in 
navigation and transmarine trade. The Kaiser con- 
cluded this speech, which was wholly unprepared 
and informal, by assuring those present— nearly all of 
whom were representative merchants of Hamburg or 
Bremen — that they could always count on the em- 
pire's protection in their undertakings abroad. 



*Of the old German Hansa, a 
confederation of towns compris- 
ing at its most flourishing period 
seventy-two important harbor 
and inland cities, but three re- 
main to-day — viz., Hamburg, 
Bremen, and Liibeck. They en- 



joy a republican form of govern- 
ment, but form part of the em- 
pire, and send their representa- 
tives both to the Bundesrath 
(Federal Council) and Reichs- 
tag, sharing in national legisla- 
tion. — Ed. 



245 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

The new harbor of Stettin, which enlarged the ship- 
ping facihties of that Baltic emporium enormously, 
was dedicated, on September 23, 1898, with much pomp 
and ceremony. The imperial couple attended, and 
to the oration of the chief burgomaster, Hacken, the 
Kaiser replied. He first referred to the fact that the 
city's growing prosperity was due, in the first place, 
to his grandfather's wise measures abolishing the an- 
cient fortress walls which had confined the old town 
within too narrow limits. Then he spoke of the 
''genuine Pomeranian obstinacy" which had made 
Stettin hold firm to its purpose of gaining free elbow- 
room and a fair chance to ply the ocean. He con- 
tinued : 

'' I am glad of that, for I see that the old Pomeranian 
spirit, doughty and reckless, is still alive in you, and 
that it has driven you on the water. Our future lies 
on the sea, and I am firmly convinced that your en- 
deavors, which you especially, Herr Chief Burgomaster, 
have promoted with far-seeing eye and with never- 
ceasing effort, will, centuries hence, make your name 
dear to the grateful citizens of Stettin. As your liege 
and monarch, I offer you my thanks for having brought 
Stettin to its present flourishing condition, and I hope 
and trust — I might almost say, I demand — that the city 
will go on developing at the same rate, and that its 
purposes may never be troubled by partisan feeling, 
but will always be directed towards the common good, 
thus Hfting you up to an altitude of prosperity which 
we at present can scarcely foretell. Such is my wish.'* 

On June 17, 1899, the Kaiser witnessed the Elbe re- 
gattas at Brunsbiittel, and then went on board the 
Hamburg - American finer Furst Bismarck, where he 
personally distributed the prizes in the ladies' saloon. 

246 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

At eight o'clock was served a gorgeous banquet in the 
dining-saloon, which had been tastefully decorated with 
flags and flowers for the occasion. Some one hundred 
and eighty persons partook, among them the Kaiser 
and his large suite, the participants at the regatta, and 
some of the directors and shareholders of the Hamburg- 
American line. The Kaiser sat between the Hamburg 
burgomaster, Monckeberg, and the president of the 
Hamburg-American line, Ballin. Monckeberg proposed 
the toast to the Emperor, attributing to the Kaiser the 
recent growth in Germany of aquatic sports, and draw- 
ing a parallel between that and German expansion on 
the seas. To this the monarch replied: 

'* ... It is no flattery when I say that I always antici- 
pate with keen pleasure the day of the Elbe regatta, for 
it always means to me an enjoyable holiday after hard 
labor. To be with men who share in my aims, with 
men of brains and spirit, fully appreciating the signs of 
the times, and who have seen and heard much, is a 
solace and boon to me, and it always stirs me to new 
thoughts and new action. . . . 

'* I fully expect that the growing personal intercourse 
between the men of the interior and those of the wasser- 
kante^ will conduce to the whole country's advantage, 
and will scatter much fruitful knowledge among the na- 
tion. Gentlemen, you have just told me, and I am 
grateful to you for it, that you support and understand 
my policy. It is my endeavor to discover everywhere 
new coigns of vantage, whence we can unfold a profit- 
able activity. Later on our children and grandchildren 
will be in condition to utilize fully what we have ac- 
quired for them. Slowly, very slowly, the conviction 
has gained ground among our countrymen of the im- 



' The word wasserkante is the 
popular German term that is ap- 



ph'ed to the coast-line, east and 
west, of Germany. — Ed. 



247 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

mense importance of the sea and of sea-power, and as 
slowly spread a general understanding of the nature 
of marine affairs and interests. But this conviction 
has now taken hold of the national mind, and once an 
idea, a conviction, has become a spark in the German 
mind, it grows to a leaping, strong flame. Thus it 
will be in this case. ..." 

After the dinner the Kaiser remained on deck until 
one o'clock conversing in lively fashion. F. Laeiss, one 
of the largest Hamburg ship-owners, asked him if he 
would not like to view, next day, one of his vessels, then 
the largest sailing-vessel in the world — namely, the 
five-mast bark Potosi, plying between Hamburg and 
the west coast of South America. The Kaiser prom- 
ised at once, slapping the old gentleman on the back in 
jovial mood, and answering him in the broad local dia- 
lect of Hamburg. 

Promptly the next morning the Kaiser and his suite 
boarded the Potosi, examining the vessel, in his usual 
way, from stem to stern, and chatting with a number 
of the sailors. To the captain of the vessel, Hilgendorf, 
known on the coast as the *' Flying Dutchman," because 
of his fast passages, the Kaiser gave his photograph, 
with autograph signature. 

On July I, 1899, the Kaiser was in Liibeck, welcom- 
ing the new local yacht club as a member of the Im- 
perial German Yacht Club, and saying: ''That again is 
a new evidence of the nation's wakened marine ambi- 
tions." In his speech at the luncheon served in his 
honor, the Kaiser aptly used an ancient Liibeck motto 
he had discovered in the old session-hall of the munici- 
pal bi" tiding, in counselling patience and persistency in 
the enaeavor to regain the city's former pre-eminence 
on the ocean. 

The inauguration of the Dortmund-Ems Canal, join- 

248 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

ing the Westphalian city of Dortmund with the North 
Sea by means of a navigable canal, was attended by the 
Kaiser on August ii, 1899. He arrived that day in 
Rauxel, near Dortmund, where he was received by the 
chancellor of the empire and a number of ministers of 
the crown, afterwards proceeding, first by carriage and 
then by boat, to various points of interest along the 
canal. The school-children, headed by their masters 
and by the local authorities, were lined up along the 
whole route, cheering the Kaiser. Then the latter re- 
turned to Dortmund, to assist in the formal dedication 
of the new harbor for sea-going vessels. In answer to 
an address by the chief burgomaster of Dortmund, 
Schmieding, the Kaiser replied, rendering thanks for 
the sympathetic reception accorded him, and then 
saying : 

** . . . The work which I have just viewed will, I trust, 
enable Dortmund again to venture on the sea, as she 
did in former days. But this canal, I take it, is but the 
first part of the whole. The canal, I say, will be event- 
ually but an integral portion of the great Midland Canal, 
to build and operate which both I and my government 
are unalterably resolved. It is, of course, difficult to 
spread such new and big ideas quickly among the pop- 
ulation, and to win understanding and appreciation for 
them. Nevertheless I am of opinion that in time the 
conviction will make headway that the completion of 
our more important waterways is an absolute necessity, 
and that it will have in its wake blessings for both in- 
dustry and agriculture.^ . . . 

'' . . . We must not forget that the constantly growing 



^ The Kaiser's will in this re- 
spect has, however, meanwhile 
been twice defeated. Two gov- 
ernment bills, introduced succes- 



sively in the Prussian Diet, failed 
of passage, due to Agrarian oppo- 
sition. The Kaiser received the 
snub almost in silence, — Ed. 



249 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

needs of our country imperatively demand new and 
easy ways of communication, and as such we must re- 
gard waterways next to railroads. The exchange of 
bulky commodities in the interior of the country, by 
which agriculture is profiting above all, can only be 
cheaply and easily effected by water. I am in hopes, 
therefore, that the representative bodies of legislation, 
noting this fact, will enable me to confer the blessings 
of this canal, if possible, in the course of this present 
year, on the people as a whole." 

Later in the day, after a visit to the ancient Rath- 
haus (municipal building) of Dortmund, the Kaiser 
elaborated still further the same train of thought. He 
again dwelt on the need by Germany of more numer- 
ous and inexpensive methods of communication, tell- 
ing of various canal projects in olden days, and em- 
phasized the fact that in such matters it was always 
the greatest good to the greatest number that deserved 
consideration, and that the possible incidental loss to 
the few ought not and* could not sway the action of 
governments in such matters. Then he said: 

"... Only by harmonious co-operation of agriculture 
and industry is it possible to promote the welfare of 
the whole state and to bring about progress on a sound 
basis." 

On receipt of the news of the big fire which destroyed 
ships and other valuable property at the North German 
Lloyd docks in Hoboken, on July 3, 1900, the Kaiser, 
who happened to be in Wilhelmshaven at the time, 
wired as follows : 

"The disaster which has befallen the North German 
Lloyd in New York fills me with genuine sorrow. The 

250 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

great loss of men and ships is a severe blow. But I am 
firmly convinced that the tried and proven manage- 
ment of the North German Lloyd will meet this trial, 
as it has others before now, with steadfast courage, and 
that the employes of the North German Lloyd in New 
York will have been found in this sad hour faithful to 
their duty." 

The imperial couple paid Stettin another visit, on 
September 7, 1900, and to a welcoming speech by Chief 
Burgomaster Hacken, in which the latter referred to 
the German participation in quelling the disturbances 
in China, the Kaiser made answer, saying : 

"... You made mention of our brothers who have 
gone to the far East to protect our interests there. I 
have confidence in them, that they will succeed in re- 
storing there such orderly and permanent conditions as 
will permit the German merchant who lives and toils 
there to escape harm and to continue giving adequate 
and profitable attention to his affairs. ..." 

After the close of the annual regattas near the mouth 
of the Elbe River, on June 19, 1901, a dinner was given 
on board the Hamburg-American line pleasure yacht 
Victoria Louise. The Kaiser and his brother. Prince 
Henry, were among those present. The Kaiser replied 
to an address by Dr. Monckeberg, the burgomaster of 
Hamburg, in this wise: 

*' . . . My chief care for the future will be that 
those things for which we have lately intrusted the 
seed to a kindly soil shall be allowed to sprout and 
grow in quiet security. We have obtained for our- 
selves a warm place in the sunlight, despite the fact 
that our navy is not yet what it ought to be. It 

251 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

will be my task to see that this place in the sunlight 
remains to us, safely and undisputed, so that the warm 
rays of the sun may bring forth fruit in commerce and 
shipping, in industry and agriculture. Our future lies 
on the water. The more Germans venture out upon 
the water, be it in competing with others in aquatic 
sports, be it in undertaking distant journeys on the 
ocean, or in the service of our navy, the better for us. 
For once the German will have learned to direct his 
gaze afar, to aim at great things; he will lose that 
spirit of smallness which still clings to him in his con- 
duct of every-day life. And to gain such a free and 
high vision, there is no better place than one of our 
Hansa towns. . . . We must again begin at the point 
where in former days the Hansa had to leave off, be- 
cause it lacked the vivifying and protecting strength 
of the empire. May it, therefore, be the aim and task 
of my house to give you, for many years to come, deep 
peace, thus promoting the manifold affairs of business. 
I consider that the events which have lately occurred 
in China, and which at present find a satisfactory con- 
clusion in the return of our troops, vouchsafe us peace 
for many years to come. For the achievements there 
of the different contingents have called forth mutual 
respect and a feeling of comradeship, and this can only 
be conducive to the preservation of peace. And in 
this peace, I trust, our Hansa towns will flourish, and 
our new Hansa will trace new courses, and will find 
new fields of consumption for our goods. As head of 
the empire, I rejoice at the departure of each new 
Hanseate, be he Hamburger, Bremer, or Liibecker, 
who goes out to foreign parts, looking with his keen, 
unbiased eye for new points where we may hammer 
in a nail on which to hang our armor. ..." 

When the Kaiser learned, on July 19, 1901, that the 

252 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

new Hamburg - American liner, the Deutschland, had 
broken the world's ocean record, having made her 
last trip from New York to Plymouth at an aver- 
age rate of 23.51 knots (against 23.28 knots per hour 
thus far shown by the swiftest vessel), he wired to 
the management of the successful company as fol- 
lows: 

*' Bravo, Deutsch and! This is a score which no other 
vessel in the world has yet achieved. Honor to the 
constructors — the tried and approved Vulcan Yard, 
and honor, too, to the commander and men of the 
vessel! I am glad that the ship's name is Deutsch- 
land.'* 

On September 14, 1901, the Kaiser had a meeting with 
Czar Nicholas H. in Danzig. He was welcomed in that 
fine old town by its chief burgomaster, Delbriick. The 
latter rendered thanks for the constant interest shown 
Danzig by the monarch, saying the city walls, which 
had stood as an impediment to growth, had been re- 
moved, and new harbor enlargements were being con- 
structed, and the whole town was on the high-road to 
unprecedented prosperity. The Kaiser replied at some 
length, saying : 

" I am just back from a momentous meeting with my 
friend, the Czar of Russia, a meeting which turned out 
to our entire mutual satisfaction, and which once more 
has confirmed me in the belief that European peace 
will be vouchsafed the nations for many years to come. 
This fact relieves my heart greatly. . . . You will 
notice upon me the tokens of mourning. One of the 
last conversations I had last summer with my mother, 
who was even then in the grasp of a relentless malady,' 
concerned the development of this city of Danzig. . . . 

253 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

My late mother then expressed to me the hope that 
the people of Danzig would not forget their glorious 
past, and that they would, above all, cherish and re- 
tain the heirloom of their forefathers — the beautiful 
architectural style of this ancient town. . . . You may 
be sure that my interest for the improvement and de- 
velopment of Danzig will ever remain the same, and 
you know me long enough to feel certain that whatever 
I have made my mind up to, that I accomplish, sooner 
or later. ..." 

Together with his consort, the Kaiser paid a visit 
to the Rhine city, Crefeld, centre of the German 
velvet and silk industry. After viewing the town 
and being welcomed in a speech by its chief burgo- 
master, Kiiper, he made reply, saying, among other 
things : 

'*. . . Our German army stands forever ready to 
protect and defend our country, and respect and con- 
fidence meet it on every side. But you, living in a 
commercial city, will understand that another thing 
is needed besides our army — and that is the navy. 
You have experienced it in the course of its develop- 
ment, how it is that when our flag is unfurled on 
foreign shores, when our iron-clads show themselves, 
a feeling of respect quickly awakens in the bosoms of 
those populations.^ For you a strong, powerful navy 
is a necessity, a navy able to protect peaceful trade 
and shipping, so that you can sell your products 
everywhere. Indeed, I believe I have done the best 
and most needful for you and for all other cities 
cultivating industry and commerce, when I exerted 
myself to the utmost in developing our sea-power. I 



* The Kaiser here hinted at 
events in China and at the tri- 



fling punitive mission of Ger- 
man vessels in Hayti. — Ed. 

254 



FURTHERING COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION 

am of opinion that every new man-of-war that is 
launched from our yards to increase our navy is an 
additional guarantee for the security and peace with 
which you can pursue your various avocations and 
reap the fruits of your labors. ..." 



XVI 

THE KAISER AND THE TROUBLES IN CHINA 

His remarkable addresses to his parting troops — * ' I will not rest 
until the German flag flies above the walls of Peking" — 
A cablegram from the German merchants of Shanghai — 
"Spare nobody, make no prisoners" — "This may be the 
beginning of a war between Occident and Orient" — The 
Kaiser's contradictory estimates of Chinese character — 
Censuring Admiral Seymour's strategy — His pompous fare- 
well to Field-marshal Waldersee — Reply to Prince Chun. 

The Kaiser's oratorical gifts were brought into full 
play during the time of the Boxer rebellion and the sub- 
sequent troubles in China. But even his best friends 
in Germany admit that he did so ''not wisely, but too 
well." In fact, his arrogant and self-glorifying utter- 
ances during that whole period, revealing too plainly 
one of the unloveliest phases of his strangely complex 
character, and his unmeasured threats and uncontrolled 
fits of anger, caused a general irritation throughout the 
civilized world, shared even by millions of his own sub- 
jects, which could not fail to react against the country 
he represented, creating a prejudice even against Ger- 
many's legitimate claims for reparation, and thus seri- 
ously injuring the very cause the Kaiser professed to 
have — and doubtless had — so much at heart. 

One of the utterances made by him at this time, 
fiercely instructing his departing soldiers to ''spare no 
enemy and to take no prisoners," particularly occa- 
sioned the widest indignation in all civilized countries. 

256 



THE KAISER AND THE TROUBLES IN CHINA 

There is only one excuse — not justification — for the 
Kaiser: his impulsive temperament, hurrying him on 
to remarks which in calmer mood he would have 
avoided. 

It was towards the end of May, 1900, that news 
reached the West of the precarious situation of the for- 
eign residents in China, and especially in Peking. But 
nobody in Germany, or elsewhere, had as yet an ade- 
quate conception of the real magnitude and imminency 
of the danger. Then arrived suddenly very alarming 
news — of the assassination of the German minister in 
Peking, Baron von Ketteler, and of the massacre of all 
the Europeans and Americans there, and a cry of hor- 
ror went up all over the world. The Kaiser was com- 
pletely under the domination of this news, which, as 
subsequently ascertained, had been grossly exagger- 
ated. It may be well to say that up to that time the 
Kaiser's informants as to China and its affairs had been 
in the main these three — viz., Ketteler, his minister in 
Peking; Von Brand, his former minister there; and 
Bishop Anzer, chief of the German Catholic missions in 
China. Not one of these three had anticipated any 
such general or dangerous outbreak as the one which 
the allied powers had soon after to cope with. Ketteler, 
especially, had totally underrated the Boxer movement 
and the intensity of Chinese feeling against foreigners 
in general, and more especially against the Germans, 
largely because of the unceremonious seizure of Kiao- 
chou, an unbloody feat of arms which nobody had 
lauded as much as precisely the Kaiser. The latter' s 
lack of correct and detailed information regarding Chi- 
nese matters, and, more especially, Chinese character, 
betrayed itself painfully throughout the whole dura- 
tion of the troubles there, and some of his self -contra- 
dictory assertions and astounding boasts were directly 
traceable to this ignorance on his part. 
17 257 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

On July 2, 1900, the Kaiser, after inspecting in Wil- 
helmsliaven a battalion of marines about to depart for 
China, made them a farewell address, saying : 

"The torch of war has been flung into the midst of 
deepest peace, though not unexpected by me. A crime 
unparalleled in its insolence, hateful in its cruelty, has 
been perpetrated upon my tried and trusted repre- 
sentative, and has hurried him to his grave. The min- 
isters of other powers tremble in hourly danger of their 
lives, and with them the comrades sent out for their 
protection ; perhaps by now they have fought their 
last. 

"The German flag has been outraged, and the Ger- 
man Empire has been insulted. That demands exem- 
plary reparation and vengeance. 

" The situation has been changed with awful rapidity, 
and is now most critical and serious. Since I called you 
to arms it has become worse. I was at first in hopes to 
be able to repair things with the aid of my marine in- 
fantry. That is now impossible. The task has as- 
sumed greater proportions, and to grapple successfully 
with it organized bodies of troops of all the civilized 
countries must be used. To-day the commander of 
my squadron of cruisers has asked me to send a whole 
division. 

"You will face an enemy who defies death no less 
than you do. Trained by European ofiicers, the Chi- 
nese have learned how to fight with European w^eapons. 
God be praised for the fact that your comrades of the 
marine infantry and my navy have maintained the old 
German reputation for valor wherever they have met 
the enemy. They have defended themselves with 
glory, achieving victory. 

"Thus I send you out there to avenge wrong and 
enforce reparation. I will not rest until the German 

258 



THE KAISER AND THE TROUBLES IN CHINA 

flag^ flies victorious from the walls of Peking, flies 
above the Chinese, and dictates the terms of peace to 
the Chinese." 

The Kaiser ordered the formation of an expedition- 
ary corps, to be composed of volunteers from every part 
of the regular army, and to have the strength of a Ger- 
man brigade on a war footing — i. e., about ten thou- 
sand men. Subsequently this contingent was doubled 
in size. 

The German merchants of Shanghai sent a cablegram 
to the Kaiser, asking him to despatch a military and 
naval force for the suppression of the rebellion in the 
north and in the Yangtse region, and for the protec- 
tion of German commercial interests, which would be 
"commensurate with Germany's position as the second 
largest commercial power in the far East." 

The answer sent by William II. was: 

''Your wishes will be fulfilled as far as possible. 
Moltke and Bismarck now on the way, also marine in- 
fantry. Division iron-clads, division infantry follow." 

To the troops which left Bremerhaven on July 27, 
1900, about to depart for China, the Kaiser said: 

''During thirty years of peace our arm_y has been 
drilled and perfected in accordance with the precepts 
of my grandfather. You, too, have received your edu- 
cation as' soldiers in conformity with these principles, 
and you are now about to be tested before the enemy — 
whether you have profited by it. Your comrades of 



'In the "edited" phrasing of 
this speech, as it subsequently 
appeared in the Reichsanzeiger, 
that passage ran, "Until the 



German flag, united with those of 
the other powers,'* etc., the seven 
words in italics having been in- 
terpolated. — Ed. 



259 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

the navy have already furnished proof that the prin- 
ciples governing their military training are sound ones, 
and I am proud of the praise which has been accorded 
them by foreign officers and commanders out there. It 
is for you to show that you can do as well. Yours is 
a great task. You are to exact reparation for the un- 
precedented wrong, the gross affront, done us. The 
Chinese have disregarded the law of nations. They 
have shown scorn for the sacredness of an envoy, for 
the duties of hospitality, in a manner unparalleled in 
the world's history. And this is the more reprehensi- 
ble because these crimes have been committed by a 
nation which boasts of its ancient culture. . . . 

"You are to fight against a cunning, courageous, 
well-armed, and cruel foe. When you are upon him, 
know this: Spare nobody, make no prisoners. Use 
your weapons in a manner to make every Chinaman 
for a thousand years to come forego the wish to as 
much as look askance at a German. ..." 

On August 2, 1900, two more transport ships, the 
Adria and the Rhine, left Bremerhaven with large 
bodies of soldiers on board, destined for the seat of war 
in China. The Kaiser on this occasion, after inspect- 
ing the vessels thoroughly, called the corps of officers 
around him on deck, and spoke to them in the follow- 
ing strain: 

"You are going on a grave and portentous mission, 
the end of which is not yet clear. It may be the be- 
ginning of a great war between Occident and Orient. 
The whole Occident is united. For the common end 
even such nations have joined who have all along con- 
fronted one another as inveterate foes. Every nation 
has there given proof of matchless bravery, and it is for 
you, gentlemen, to bring additional glory to the Ger- 

260 



THE KAISER AND THE TROUBLES IN CHINA 

man name, which fortunate wars have placed high in 
the roster of warhke nations. Show them that we have 
all this time worked hard, and that our toil in times of 
peace has not been in vain. Prove yourselves good 
comrades to all the troops assembled there, no matter 
what the color of their skin. . . . 

'* By nature the Chinaman is a cowardly cur, but 
he is tricky and double-faced. Small, detached troops 
must be particularly cautious. The Chinaman likes to 
fall upon an enemy from an ambush, or during the 
night-time, or with vast superiority in numbers. Re- 
cently the enemy has fought bravely, a fact which has 
not yet been sufficiently explained. Perhaps these 
were his best troops, those drilled by German and other 
officers. 

"Above all, gentlemen, prove to the Chinese that 
there is at least one power which, irrespective of remoter 
considerations of a practical nature, means to punish 
them for wrongs inflicted. Make war until the aim I 
have designated be attained, until complete atonement 
has been enforced. ..." 

Another speech was made by the Kaiser on August 14, 
1900, likewise to the assembled officers of a large body 
of troops departing on board of several steamers leav- 
ing Bremerhaven for the seat of war. In it he said : 

"You are facing a serious situation. Contrary to 
my intentions, affairs in China are becoming graver 
every day. With my drawing, ' Nations of Europe, 
Safeguard Your Most Cherished Possessions,' I meant 
to give, four years ago, a hint to the other sovereigns. 
But my warnings were not heeded. The situation to- 
day is wholly due to the total undervaluation of the 
enemy. If the ministers had suspected the fermenta- 
tion in the minds of the Chinese, and had better appre- 

261 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

ciated its import, they would have sought safety and 
succor with the troops of their governments. 

''Give no quarter! Do not rest until the enemy, 
crushed to the earth, asks pardon on his bended knees. 

''And to enable you, gentlemen, to answer questions 
which may be put to you by officers of other powers, I 
will tell you herewith my political aims : Suppression of 
the rebellion, exemplary punishment for the ringlead- 
ers, re-establishment of the status quo ante, and the firm 
seating of a strong government, one which can give us 
the requisite written guarantees that similar events 
will not recur. . . . 

"I should oppose, however, the dismemberment of 
the huge Chinese Empire. I should oppose this most 
determinedly. It is not to be thought of, for that 
would lead to a whole net-work of new and serious 
complications. The Chinaman is accustomed to a cen- 
tral government. And that is why our interests and 
our commerce will flourish best under the prevailing 
system. . . . 

"Above all, I warn you against the scattering of 
your forces. Admiral Seymour would have avoided 
that total failure if he had not marched with his two 
thousand men against a city of millions, and if he had 
been better informed in other respects. This is all the 
more to be regretted because Seymour participated, 
when still a midshipman, in the taking of the Taku 
forts, and since he ought to have utilized the experi- 
ence then gained, forty years before, in judging the sit- 
uation of to-day. . . . 

"In your intercourse with the officers of other 
nations all political feeling must, of course, be disre- 
garded. Whether Englishman or Russian, Frenchman 
or Japanese, we are all fighting the same enemy for 
the maintenance of civilization; in our case, too, the 
maintenance of religion. 

262 



THE KAISER AND THE TROUBLES IN CHINA 

** Do honor to the German name, to the flag, and — do 
not forget it — to me." 

The Kaiser received Count Waldersee, the newly 
appointed commander-in-chief of the allied forces in 
China, and his suite, on August i8, 1900. The meeting 
took place in Cassel, in Chateau Wilhelmshohe, and 
the Kaiser had taken pains to make the farewell 
audience as effective and theatrical as possible. He 
presented Waldersee with a diamond -incrusted field- 
marshal's baton, after appointing him to that military 
rank a couple of days previous. His farewell speech, 
too, was somewhat bombastic. He said, in part, to him : 

" I greet you at the moment of your leaving the fa- 
therland, and congratulate you on having been chosen, 
my dear Waldersee, as the leader of the united troops 
of the civilized world. It is of great significance that 
your appointment to this exalted office has been due, 
in the first place, to a suggestion and expressed desire 
of his Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias,^ the 
mighty potentate whose power is felt for vast distances, 
far into the interior of Asia. This is another proof 
of the closely connected army traditions of the two 
empires, and I recognize the fact with joy that on the 
strength of this suggestion on the part of his Majesty 
the entire civilized world has, without exception, in- 
trusted, of its own free will, the chief command over 
their troops to your Excellency. 

"As Prussian officers we can feel grateful and proud 
because of the great task now confided to your hands. 
For it includes a general recognition of the excellence 



* Curiously enough, this bald 
assertion by the Kaiser, subse- 
quently reiterated on various oc- 
casions, was disputed not alone 



by the entire Russian press, even 
the official sheets, but, by in- 
nuendo, by Nicholas II. him- 
self.— Ed. 



263 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

of our whole military life and work, as well as of our 
military system and of the training and the capacity 
of our generals and officers. 

'* In the interest of the allied nations I may express 
the hope that our joint expedition may result in safe- 
guarding mutual appreciation and mutual peaceable- 
ness for the powers of Europe, as his Majesty the 
Emperor of Russia endeavored to promote the same 
aims last year upon another field of activity. What, 
however, we were unable to attain in peace, we may, 
perhaps, now attain by the use of arms." 

The departure of Waldersee was on a par with this 
specimen of grandiloquence. The whole journey of 
himself and his staff from Berlin to Genoa resembled 
the triumphal march of a conquering hero. One of 
his aides, a nephew of the marshal, issued hourly bul- 
letins of his uncle's progress from the car window to 
the press. Even a large portion of the German press 
rebelled against this vaingloriousness. 

The final tableau of the whole business unfolded 
itself, a year later, in Potsdam. On September 4, 1901, 
Prince Chun, brother to the nominal Emperor of China, . 
was received in special audience by the Kaiser in the 
New Palace. This Chinese prince was there to carry 
out a special mission of atonement for the murder of 
Baron von Ketteler, the German minister at Peking. 
In the pursuance of this task he addressed the head 
of the affronted nation in the following fashion : 

" By order of the great Emperor, my most gracious lord and 
master, I have the honor to present his most honored letter to 
your Majesty. 

"At the expiration of the rebellious movements in China 
last year, the imperial court, no less of its own accord than at 
the urgent request of the powers, felt the obligation to ex- 
press, by sending a special mission to Germany, to your Maj- 
esty sincere regrets at the various happenings, more especially 

264 



THE KAISER AND THE TROUBLES IN CHINA 

at the one whose victim was your Majesty's excellent minister, 
Baron von Ketteler. 

"To show beyond question the sincerity of this regret, his 
Majesty the Emperor selected me, as his next of kin, for this 
mission. 

"I am in condition to assure your Majesty that the Emperor, 
my most gracious lord, was, in the fullest sense of the word, 
in nowise implicated in these troubles, which brought great 
disaster to China and losses and sorrows to Germany. 

"Notwithstanding this, and abiding by a custom which has 
been adhered to for thousands of years, the Emperor of China 
has taken the guilt upon his own sacred person, 

"I am commissioned, therefore, to express, in handing this 
letter to your Majesty, the most sympathetic sentiments of 
the Emperor, my august master, for the person of your Maj- 
esty. I am to be the interpreter as well of these sentiments 
towards her Majesty the Empress, and towards the whole im- 
perial family on the part of the great Emperor of China, and to 
express the wish that the house of your Majesty may flourish, 
and that health, happiness, and blessings may be bountiful 
within it. 

"His Majesty the Emperor of China hopes that the events 
of last year may have been but a temporary disturbance of 
former relations, and that now, since clouds have been super- 
seded by the sunlight of peace, the nations of Germany and 
China will learn mutually to know and appreciate each other. 
That is also my own sincere desire." 

The Kaiser, remaining seated on his throne, replied 
to this speech in slow, measured accents, and in a 
grave and almost forbidding manner, as follows : 

''It is not a gay, festive occasion, nor the fulfilment 
of a simple duty of politeness, which has led your 
Imperial Highness to my throne, but a very sad and 
serious event. My minister at the court of his Majes- 
ty the Emperor of China, Baron von Ketteler, fell a 
victim to the murderous weapon of an imperial Chinese 
soldier, who executed an order of his superiors. This 
is an unheard-of crime, branded alike by the law of 
nations and by the customs of all nations. 

265 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

" From the mouth of your Imperial Highness I have 
just now heard the expression of the sincere and deep 
regret of his Majesty the Emperor of China. I wilHng- 
ly beHeve that the imperial brother of your Imperial 
Highness was no partner to this crime and to the 
subsequent outrages to which inviolate ministers and 
peaceable foreigners were subjected. All the greater 
the burden of guilt which lies on his counsellors and 
his government. 

"They must not delude themselves into the belief 
that atonement and forgiveness for their crimes will 
be theirs solely on the strength of this mission of 
expiation and penitence; their whole subsequent con- 
duct, if in accordance with the laws of nations and 
with the customs of civilized peoples, can alone ac- 
complish that. 

"Only if his Majesty the Emperor of China hence- 
forth conducts the government of his great empire in 
strict conformity with the spirit of these mandates 
will his hope be fulfilled that the sad consequences of 
the disturbances of the last year will be overcome, and 
that permanently friendly and peaceable relations, as 
they obtained formerly, will be re-established between 
Germany and China, relations which will bear blessings 
for both nations and for the entire human civilization. 

"In the earnest and sincere hope that these things 
will come to pass, I bid your Imperial Highness wel- 
come." 



THE KAISER IN MORE INTIMATE 

CIRCLES 



XVII 

THE KAISER'S IDEAL 

Among his ancestors it is the "Great Elector" of Branden- 
burg whom he specially admires and by whom he takes pat- 
tern — Drawing a parallel between that ruler and himself — 
Dedicating a monument at Kiel to him. 

We have the Kaiser's own word for it that it is not 
so much Frederick WilHam I. of Prussia, Frederick the 
Great, or even his idolized grandfather, the old Em- 
peror, whom he takes as a model and ideal for his life, 
as it is that earlier, and, to the general world, less- 
known figure in German history, Frederick William, 
the '' Great Elector " of Brandenburg. He has declared 
this to be the case in a number of public speeches and 
private conversations, and on looking closer at the his- 
torical facts there seems, indeed, to be a rational ex- 
planation for his predilection. 

Despite Carlyle's hero-worshipping book on Frederick 
the Great, and despite the fact that the great Fred- 
erick's glory fills, to the superficial eye, the most glow- 
ing pages of Prussia's comparatively short history, 
there are many reasons which forbid the youngest 
scion of the Hohenzollern race to worship at this shrine 
without mental reserve ; above all, that monarch's cyn- 
icism and atheism, and, next to that, his cosmopoli- 
tan spirit, which made Voltaire and a number of other 
brilliant Frenchmen his intimate friends, and the En- 
cyclopaedist school of literature and enlightenment his 
intellectual boon companions. The present Kaiser, 

269 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

indeed, heartily admires the dauntless, unconquerable 
soldier and the man of subtle, resourceful mind in " Old 
Fritz" — as that great monarch is still popularly called 
throughout Germany ; but he even more cordially dis- 
likes the other characteristics of the man. A couple 
of years ago the Kaiser took along for leisurely perusal 
on his midsummer trip to the Scandinavian seas those 
volumes containing, in the original French,^ Frederick 
the Great's correspondence. But after scanning the 
contents for a space he cast the books aside, remark- 
ing, wrathfully, " What an old heathen he was!" That 
accurately enough describes his descendant's attitude 
towards his great sire. 

His father, viewed by him for many years at close 
range, was too liberal in political thought for the 
present Kaiser's taste. That was one insuperable ob- 
jection he had against him. His grandfather, though 
both his personal traits and his achievements, as well 
as his political principles and aims, appeal very strong- 
ly to William H., and though the tender regard and 
high respect he cherishes for that noble and simple 
character crop out continually, is nevertheless not his 
ideal. William I. was too modest and unassuming for 
his grandson's taste, and in his heart of hearts he can- 
not forgive the old gentleman of having played — as 
William I. undoub^dly did — second fiddle to Bismarck, 
his chancellor and " majordomus." Frederick William 
I., again, the first of the Prussian soldier -kings, was 
autocratic and energetic and shrewd enough to suit 
even William H., but he was too narrow-minded and 
headstrong, too rigid and unbending — above all, too 
small a man intellectually to be considered by his 



^It is well known that Fred- 
erick the Great received almost 
his entire education in French, 
and that he never during his life 



mastered the intricacies of Ger- 
man grammar or orthography. 
His autograph rescripts show 
this plainly. — Ed. 



27P 



THE KAISER^S IDEAL 

present descendant of quite large enough caliber to 
take pattern by. There is something of all these able 
Prussian rulers in the Kaiser of to-day, but there is 
not enough in any one of them for him to make an 
ideal of. 

With the ''Great Elector "of Brandenburg it is dif- 
ferent. He was, as a matter of fact, in many and im- 
portant respects the very prototype of William II. He 
was the first really great ruler of the Hohenzollern 
dynasty. He created the future Prussia during his 
long reign of forty-eight years (1640-88), and, above 
all, he created both an army and a navy, and welded 
the scattered fragments of his small states into a 
rather homogeneous entity. In intellect, and in his 
quaint mixture of good morals and rugged egotism, 
he was the forerunner of William II. himself. 

At the sessions of the Provincial Chambers of Bran- 
denburg, and at the annual banquets given by that 
body, the Kaiser has most frequently given rein to 
his deep admiration for the "Great Elector." He did 
so while still plain Prince William, and often since as- 
cending the throne. In one of his speeches on such 
an occasion he explicitly stated: 

''We all of us work, so to speak, in the shadow of 
the Great Elector, a man who, with every fibre and with 
his whole heart, loved his homeland, and who exerted 
himself with unceasing, energetic toil for its benefit, 
until he had developed and amalgamated his Bran- 
denburg^ into a firm, coherent whole, allaying the 
countless wounds which an inhuman thirty years' war 
had inflicted. He is that ancestor of mine for whom 



* It was not until the "Great 
Elector's" successor, Frederick 
I., had reigned a number of 
years, in 1701, that the electors 



of Brandenburg acquired the title 
and dignity of kings of Prussia, 
the name coming to them from the 
province of East Prussia. — Ed. 



271 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

I have the greatest admiration, and who has, since 
my boyhood's days, illuminated the path before me 
as my model and ideal." 

On December i, 1890, two hundred and fifty years 
had elapsed since the Great Elector commenced his 
reign. In commemoration of the fact, the Kaiser ar- 
ranged for and then attended a very impressive mil- 
itary memorial celebration on that day. It took place 
before the fine monument of that monarch, situated 
on the castle bridge, in the immediate vicinity of the 
Kaiser's palace in Berlin. He then addressed the vast 
body of troops present on that occasion as follows : 

** Comrades! We commemorate to-day the ascen- 
sion to the throne, two hundred and fifty years ago, 
of my sire, the Great Elector. He it was who laid 
the foundation-stone to the consolidation of the Elec- 
torate of Brandenburg, whence grew first the kingdom 
of Prussia, and lastly the German Empire. He or- 
ganized a new army, one in which the fear of God, 
fidelity, unquestioning obedience, and strict discipline 
reigned supreme. We Brandenburgers know what he 
has accomplished at the battle of Fehrbellin,* where he 
risked his own life. But his achievements on the field 
of peaceful pursuits are likewise recorded by history." 

On July II, 1899, in a letter to his former teacher, 
Professor Hinzpeter, in Bielefeld, the Kaiser apprises 
him of the fact that he will present to that city, to 
be placed in its public park, a reproduction in bronze 
of the fine marble monument of the Great Elector 
recently erected at his expense in the Siegesallee in 
Berlin. The letter concludes: 

* Where an invading Swedish army was defeated, — Ed. 

272 



THE KAISER'S IDEAL 

" . . . This is to be a token of grateful remembrance 
for the splendid reception your city recently accorded 
me, and also a memento to myself, urging me on, with 
a will as iron as my great ancestor's, in the path which 
I have recognized as the right one, uninfluenced by 
opposition of every kind/' 

During the following year, on August 6th, this mon- 
ument was unveiled in Bielefeld by the Kaiser, who 
made a speech of considerable length, saying, in part : 

*' . , . All the Great Elector's acts present a har- 
monious whole, sprung from his hope of founding a 
great, powerful Northern state, one which in time to 
come was to reunite once more the entire German 
fatherland. 

'* But world powers do not grow as quickly as that. 
However, the foundation-stone he did lay, and the 
mighty hammer-strokes he gave created for me a firm 
basis. . . . How different, though, things are to-day! 
From the small but well-knit state he founded the 
kingdom of Prussia grew, and Prussia again it was 
which welded the German Empire together. The great 
Kaiser, great scion of great sire, was permitted to cany- 
out what the other had dreamed of. In thus casting 
a brief glance backward upon the history of our coun- 
try, the query naturally arises. What were the causes 
which made it possible for our House of Hohenzollem 
to achieve such grand results? Only this, that each 
and every Hohenzollem ruler knew from the first that 
he was but the representative here below of a Higher 
One, that he was to give an account one day of his acts 
and his achievements to a more potent King and 
Master, that he must be a faithful steward and comply 
with the behests of a most high Employer. Thence, 
too, the rocklike conviction of his mission, which in- 
x8 273 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

spired every single one of my forefathers. Thence the 
unbending will power which enabled them to carry 
through what they had once set themselves to do. 

" May it be vouchsafed me to tread in the same paths 
which this great ancestor has marked out for me, and 
this not alone for the welfare of the whole empire, 
but also for that of this beautiful little land here. 
Perhaps it may be given to me to realize that portion 
of his dream which in the later struggles for our 
existence and development had to be postponed — 
the way to the sea! That which the Great Elector 
was able to outline and foreshadow merely, we now 
may resume on a large scale, because we now have a 
united, a great German fatherland." 

The Kaiser then touched on recent events — viz., the 
troubles in China, and that German troops were at that 
moment spilling their blood to obtain reparation and 
to restore order there. Then he continued : 

'' . . . They will demonstrate that the arm of the 
German Emperor reaches to the furthermost ends of 
the world. All this would have been impossible had it 
not been for the Great Elector and his work, and 
therefore I hope that every one of my subjects will be 
inspired by the same spirit as he, and that he will toil 
on towards the attainment of his goal, and to help me 
in attaining mine. To each one of us an aim and a 
task have been set, and if every one understands this as 
well as the Great Elector and all others of my house 
did, knowing his responsibility and that he must give 
an account above of what he has accomplished, I am 
very certain that great times are still ahead for our 
German fatherland ! ..." 

On June 20, 1901, a monument to the Great Elector 

274 



THE KAISER'S IDEAL 

was also unveiled in Kiel, the particular site of it 
being the park in front of the naval academy. The 
occasion was one for considerable display and pageant, 
the imperial couple as well as Prince Henry, the Kaiser's 
brother, also Prince Adalbert, one of the Kaiser's sons, 
and a brilliant suite being present. The war vessels 
in the harbor boomed a salute during the ceremony. 
The Kaiser made a speech in which he drew a parallel 
between himself and the Great Elector. Referring 
to the peculiar circumstances under which his proto- 
type had assumed the reins of government, and which 
greatly resembled those pertaining to his own succes- 
sion, he remarked: 

*' Truly, it was not an enviable mneritance, one 
which would have taxed to the full the capacities of 
a matured, experienced man, knowing every detail of 
government machinery, and even for such a man the 
task would have been almost too hard a one. But 
fearlessly this young man approached his task, and with 
wonderful skill he solved it. With almost super- 
human energy, aiming straight at his goal and allow- 
ing nothing to interfere with it, he succeeded in bring- 
ing his domains once more on a level of prosperity, in 
organizing their powers of defence, and in winning such 
a position for himself that his contemporaries, even his 
foes, gave him, while yet alive, the cognomen of ' The 
Great.' This, as we know, is rarely done, for a nation's 
gratitude and admiration seldom find their full expres- 
sion until after the death of no matter how wise and 
successful a ruler. This youth, remember, when ar- 
rived at maturity, was the first German prince who 
pointed his people to the sea, who founded the navy 
of Brandenburg. It is, therefore, a debt of honor our 
German navy of to-day pays to the Great Elector in 
erecting this monument. . . . 

275 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

"The navy of Brandenburg grew and prospered 
under his powerful protection, under the guidance of 
those approved Netherlanders, Admiral Raule and his 
brother. But after his death his creation pined and 
perished. ... 

''Thus the Great Elector lived, and in like man- 
ner you must strive after him. Domine, fac me scire 
viam, quam ambulem ^ — that was his motto, his leading 
principle, to which he clung through all vicissitudes, 
all trials and reverses which beset him through life, 
and which kept up his courage and his hope. It was 
the red thread which ran through the strands of his 
strenuous career. Let it also be the motto of the men 
and officers of my navy! ..." 

* "Lord, let me know the way, that I may tread it!" — Ed. 



XVIII 

THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

The Kaiser's investiture as a knight of the order of St. John — 
The graceful compHment he paid his spouse in her native 
province — ' ' May you ever rely upon me and my protec- 
tion ' ' — His faith in the divine-right dogma — Eulogizing 
his father, the Crown-prince — Extolling "kingship by God's 
grace" — Thanking the Reichstag for a monument to his 
father — Welcoming back his brother Henry — The Kaiser's 
idea of a "world-historical moment of the first magnitude" 
— His Latin telegram to Professor Mommsen — Exhibiting 
the imperial insignia to strengthen the loyalty of his subjects 
— His bombastic address to the Bonn students. 

There is no denying the fact that William II. has a 
very strong regard for and devotion to family ties and 
family sentiment. So strong, indeed, is this in him 
that it explains much which on the surface seems al- 
most inexplicable. There may be a dash of cunning 
method in his incessant and often extravagant en- 
comiums of his grandfather, father, and almost every 
member, dead or living, of the House of Hohenzollem, 
for he is shrewd enough to perceive that perpetual 
iteration as to the exalted virtues and the matchless 
merits of these excellent personages will in the end 
convince all Germany of the truth of his claims and 
make the nation as a whole accept his own estimate 
as the correct one. Such, in fact, is probably the case, 
and it is a most striking proof of the enormous force 
of repetition and suggestion. But, for all that, the 
substratum in the Kaiser's mind is doubtless genuine 

277 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

enough. He actually believes his sires and ancestors 
to be such paragons of ability and manly virtue as he 
proclaims them to a wondering world — even where im- 
partial history accords them no such high place on the 
scroll of fame. Indeed, hateful editors and contrib- 
utors to the German opposition press have frequently 
enough convicted the Kaiser of outraging historical 
truth in his fulsome praise of this or the other of his 
predecessors on the throne. But such critical notices 
were swept on and drowned in the mighty torrent of 
imperial eloquence, and on the vast majority of the 
German people of to-day the ceaseless laudations of 
nearly every Prussian ruler which the present Kaiser 
has been indulging in for fifteen consecutive years has 
had the inevitable effect. They now, more or less, be- 
lieve in the moral and intellectual grandeur of each 
individual Hohenzollern — just as the Kaiser does. 

In his case, however, this boundless faith in his own 
kith and kin, and in his forebears, is easily explained. 
The versions of history taught him by his books and 
teachers had been cautiously adapted in usum delphini, 
glossing over or keeping silent about every unpalatable 
fact, and it is questionable, indeed, whether he learned, 
for instance, at any time of the established fact that 
his favorite pattern, the aforementioned Great Elector, 
was at one time plotting treason against the Emperor, 
and at another was the actual ally of France in the 
latter' s designs upon the fatherland and its imperial 
head. Besides, the Kaiser's natural bent is in the 
direction of self-glorification, vicarious or otherwise. 
Certain it is in any case that the feeling which impels 
him in showering forever rhetorical benison upon the 
graves of his race is sincere, though often ill-advised. 

On August 23, 1888, two months after his accession, 
the young Kaiser was received with imposing cere- 
monies into the order of St. John. The scene was the 

278 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

Sonnenburg, and the lord master directing the whole 
procedure of solemn investiture was the young mon- 
arch's uncle, Prince Albrecht of Prussia, who is also the 
Regent of Brunswick. At the banquet following the 
ceremonies proper, the Kaiser rendered lavish thanks 
to his kinsman, the lord master, and said, among other 
things : 

'* . . . The great tasks devolving upon me, especial- 
ly the development and improvement of internal con- 
ditions for the people, are not to be solved through 
the efforts of organized government alone. To lift my 
people up, morally and religiously, I need the assist- 
ance of the nation's noblest part — my nobility, and in 
the order of St. John I see united large numbers from 
among the nobility. I hope and trust that I shall 
succeed, in conjunction with the aid from the order of 
St. John, in promoting and increasing the sentiment 
of religion as well as Christian discipline within the 
people, and thus to attain those high ideals which I 
have put before my eyes. . .' ." 

The Kaiser attended, on September 7, 1890, a ban- 
quet given by the provincial chambers of Schleswig- 
Holstein in the town of Gliicksburg, and on that oc- 
casion he made mention of his consort, the Empress 
Augusta Victoria, after the following fashion : 

** . . . The bond uniting me with this province, 
uniting me with it in a particular manner, is the jewel 
shining by my side — her Majesty the Empress. Sprung 
from this land, the type of all the virtues of a Ger- 
manic princess, it is owing to her that I am able to 
fulfil the heavy obligations of my office with a joyous 
and tranquil mind. 

"You pointed out that you feel secure under my 

279 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

sceptre, and that you look into the future with con- 
fidence. That is also what I do when I can rely upon 
such men as the men of Schleswig-Holstein. ..." 

When the Kaiser's sister, Victoria, married, on No- 
vember 19, 1890, Prince Adolf of Schaumburg-Lippe, he 
toasted the young couple at the wedding-feast, saying: 

"... May you ever rely upon me and my protection, 
and may you become worthy members of my family!" 

At a banquet in Coblentz, given by the provincial 
delegates of the Rhine district, on September i, 1893, 
the Kaiser made a speech in which he dwelt at some 
length on the long residence in that town of both his 
grandfather* and grandmother, saying : 

'' . . . With a deeply moved heart I speak to you in 
this spot, so intimately connected with the life of my 
departed grandfather and with the personality of my 
late grandmother. Memories of a solemn and touch- 
ing, of a beautiful and graceful, nature, are revived. 
But the total picture which our eyes, looking back- 
ward, perceive, is one showing a life filled with bless- 
ings, an activity richly fruitful and so crowned with 
success as happens but rarely here below. We feel 
the tender ministrations of that august lady who once 
dwelt in these rooms, and we still trace the benefits 
conferred by the slender hand of Empress Augusta 
upon every portion of this province. The same af- 
fection and the same devotion which this province felt 
for my grandparents, and they again for this province. 



' In 1848, after the successful 
revolutionary rising in Berlin 
and all over Prussia, the present 
Kaiser's grandfather, William I., 
then intensely unpopular, fled to 



England in disguise. After his 
return he spent a number of 
years very unobtrusively in 
Coblentz, in a high military 
position. — Ed. 



280 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

live in us now present. It was permitted me, as it was 
to my father before me, to spend two glorious years of 
my youth at the alma mater in your midst — years never 
to be forgotten. ..." 

At the unveiling of a monument to William I., in 
Bremen, on October i8, 1893, the Kaiser made an- 
other speech, lauding his grandfather, but also de- 
voting some attention to his father, in the following 
words : 

*' . . . A more appropriate day than this could 
hardly have been chosen for this ceremony — the 
18th of October, the anniversary of the great 'Na- 
tions' Battle ' at Leipzig, on which the monarchs united 
into a ' Holy Alliance ' freed Prussia, Germany, nay, 
the whole of Europe, from the iron yoke of oppres- 
sion—the 1 8th of October, too, the birthday of the 
late Emperor Frederick III. — what a prognosticon for 
the future! In his breast he bore, even in the days 
of his youth, the knowledge of coming events and the 
burning desire for the unity of the beloved father- 
land. And when at last the dawn of the new German 
Empire appeared on the horizon, he, in maturer years, 
was enabled to realize the dreams of his youth. The 
German sword in his grasp, the son won, on the 
ensanguined field of battle, the imperial crown for 
his father. It was owing to his powerful hammer- 
blows that the empire's armor has been forged so 
strongly. ..." 

Then, devoting the remainder of his address to his 
grandfather, the Kaiser said, towards the close : 

*' . . . . thank you as his grandson for the honor 
paid to him. . . . My entire task will be to strive after 

281 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

the great Kaiser, whose bronze image salutes us from 
yonder. ..." 

At the quarter-centenary of the battle of Worth, 
which was celebrated October i8, 1895, on the site 
itself, a monument to Emperor Frederick was un- 
veiled. The Kaiser on this occasion was accompanied 
by the Empress Frederick and a brilliant staff, and 
said, after the formal dedicatory address: 

"With a heart full of tender, mournful memories, 
my august mother is to-day with us. Her thoughts 
fly back to the glorious hour when she, on the arm 
of her royal consort, heard on this very spot and from 
his own lips the news of the first great victory achieved 
by him. I render special thanks to your Majesty for 
the condescension shown in personally attending here, 
on an occasion when this grand image of my dear 
father has been erected. . . . 

"We of the younger generation here assembled 
make a solemn vow, facing the lineaments of the 
mighty victor, our late Kaiser, to maintain what he 
won for us, to safeguard the crown which he fashioned, 
to defend these Reichslande against whomsoever, and 
to see to it that they remain German — so help us God 
and our good German sword ! 

"And let us all shout now: My august mother, by 
whose appearance here to-day we all feel honored, her 
Majesty the Empress Frederick! HurrS^h!" 

The following year, on June 18th, another monument 
to the old Kaiser, erected on the summit of the Kyff- 
hauser mountain, in Thuringia, by the joint efforts of 
the German veterans' associations, was unveiled. The 
Kaiser spoke at some length in reply to an address 
by General von Spitz, the president of the national 

282 



\ 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

council of these organizations, saying, among other 
things : 

"... I know that your memories of the great 
Kaiser are sacred to you all, and will be sacred till 
you draw your last breath, all of you who followed 
his victory-crowned banners, and who risked life and 
blood with him for the union of the beloved father- 
land. This monument is an imperishable token of 
such sentiments. . . . 

"With particular satisfaction have I listened to the 
renewal of the pledge of allegiance from my old 
warriors, with whom, I know, their motto, ' With God 
for Kaiser and Empire,' is no hollow verbiage. ..." 

At the spot where the confluence of the Rhine and 
Moselle rivers takes place, the so-called Deutsche 
Eck, near Coblentz, a gigantic monument in honor of 
William I. was erected. The dedication was on August 
31, 1897, in the presence of the imperial couple and an 
enormous concourse of people. A banquet given by 
the Rhine province followed, during which the Kaiser 
made one of his most flamboyant speeches, practically 
deifying his late grandfather. The most characteristic 
passage ran thus: 

"... My grandfather, the great and glorious ruler, 
issued from his residence in Coblentz, and ascended the 
throne as the chosen instrument of the Lord; indeed, 
he justly regarded himself as such. For all of us, but 
more particularly for us princes, he has again lifted up 
on high an adamant jewel, lifted it up from the dust 
until it shone. and glittered with brilliant effulgence: 
kingship by divine grace; kingship with its heavy 
duties, its never-ceasing, ever-active toils and labors, 
its awful responsibility to the Creator alone, from 

283 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

which no mere man, no chancellor or minister, no 
popular parliament, no people can absolve the ruler 
and prince. Conscious of this responsibility, knowing 
himself to be the Lord's arm, this great Emperor walked 
his way in deepest humility. He recovered for us 
unity and the German Empire, and here in this beauti- 
ful province his high thoughts were bom and ripened. 
To this province clung his heart. This city he loved. 
This city his consecrated foot trod. With this province 
he lived and suffered. ..." 

In passing, it may be well to remark that these 
hundreds of new monuments, this constant round of 
fetes and ceremonies in honor of the memory of William 
I., whom his grandson alone of all sovereigns — even of 
all German sovereigns — and he alone of all historians 
and writers conversant with the truth, persistently 
styles "the Great"; this systematic glorification of a 
man who, as Bismarck himself said to the editor — Bis- 
marck, who knew the old Emperor better, far better, 
than his grandson ever did — ''was a fine type of the 
royal gentleman, but a hero, a great man — no!" — 
this wholesale adulation and uncritical deification of a 
successful ruler and conqueror, were by no means to 
the taste of millions of Germans themselves. Indeed, 
it may be truthfully asserted that this whole business 
was intensely distasteful to the vast majority of the 
German people, and innumerable evidences of this 
appeared while this "craze" for unadulterated ex- 
aggeration, a craze lasting for a number of years, was 
at its very height with the Kaiser. Held closely in 
leash by illiberal press laws and partisan practices of 
subservient courts, the German press yet mustered 
sufficient courage every little while to deprecate this 
growing habit of making a national fetich of William L, 
calling attention to the fact that if William I. himself 

284 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

were alive he would be the first, in his genuine and 
tactful modesty, to cry a halt to this excessive, rabid 
enthusiasm in his own behalf. Nevertheless, as point- 
ed out above, the Kaiser's tactics have in the end 
prevailed. The Kaiser's constant and almost uncon- 
tradicted falsification of historical truth has led, in 
Germany at least, to the general acceptance of a por- 
trait of William I. which is remote from the established 
facts. He stands to-day an immaculate national saint 
and hero, on a pedestal whence this age will not remove 
him, a striking instance in contemporaneous history of 
the enormous power of reiterating untruths, and one 
of the yet more striking instances of the Kaiser's 
ability to make his people swallow the medicine he 
prescribes. As such an illustration the facts are of 
vast psychological importance. 

The great national monument to William L, erected 
by popular subscription, but executed entirely in ac- 
cordance with the Kaiser's ideas and demands, even 
as to the choice of the sculptor and the rate of com- 
pensation paid the latter, was put up without as much 
as a vote of the Reichstag. But when it came to 
putting up a national monument to his father. Kaiser 
Frederick III., the financial aid of the national parlia- 
ment was besought and obtained. On May 7, 1898, 
the Kaiser gave a fete to the Reichstag, just after 
adjournment sine die, in the White Hall of the Berlin 
royal castle. During the banquet the monarch made 
a speech, thanking the delegates for the liberality 
shown in the matter of this monument,* saying: 

" I feel that I must thank you before you disperse, 
not alone as your Kaiser, but also as a son, and must 
also voice the appreciation of my imperial widowed 



^ But this monument to Fred- 
erick III., although five years 

285 



have elapsed, has not yet been 
erected. — Ed. 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

mother, for the fine gift you have made us — the monu- 
ment to my late father. You have thereby made it 
easier for me to fulfil my filial duties, and for my 
mother to experience the satisfaction of employing her 
artistic qualifications in the execution of this beautiful 
task. ... 

*'...! draw my strength in persevering in the 
road to reach my goal from the same source whence 
my grandfather drew his own strength in achieving and 
doing, and my father his in conquering and suffering. 
I mean to continue in this path, knowing that it is 
the right one, the one which I also recommend you to 
follow, and the one which alone ought to determine 
our human endeavors : A tower of strength is our God ! 
In hoc signo vinces. ..." 

When Prince Valdemar, son of Prince Henry, en- 
tered the German navy, on March 20, 1899, the Kaiser 
was in Kiel. He said, among other things : 

*' . . . It is a privilege of the princes belonging to 
the House of HohenzoUern that they from their com- 
pleted tenth year on learn how to serve the father- 
land, devoting to such service all their strength and 
toil. They are, for this purpose, made to enter the 
ist Regiment of the Guards, a regiment Vv^hich has 
seen many a HohenzoUern prince in its ranks. I hope 
that henceforth the princes of the House of Hohen- 
zoUern will devote to the navy the same zeal in its 
service, and I hope that my navy will see, in days to 
come, an efficient, brave, and chivalrous officer grow- 
ing up in this hopeful young prince here, one who will 
be distinguished, like his eminent father, for his en- 
ergy, his principles, and his strong patriotism. ..." 

A few days after the demise of the mother of the 

286 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

Empress, the Duchess Frederick of Schleswig-Holstein, 
on February 2, 1900, the Reichsanzeiger pubHshed the 
Kaiser's pubHc acknowledgment of the thousands of 
testimonials of sympathy which had reached him and 
his spouse, saying that this death had plunged his 
court in mourning and had induced the annulment of 
all previously announced midwinter festivities. He 
then proceeds to enumerate such tokens of sympathy, 
saying : 

** . . . Even in far - away continents, wherever pio- 
neers of German culture and civilization have gained a 
foothold, the Germans have united to testify to their 
feeling of close connection with the home and to give 
expression to their joy at the growing respect for the 
German name in foreign parts. I greeted with partic- 
ular satisfaction in these manifestations the full appre- 
hension of the fact that the German Empire, to maintain 
its eminent position as a world power, and to protect its 
commercial interests, absolutely requires an adequate 
navy. I have accepted the many assurances of faithful 
co-operation in this great national enterprise, coming 
from such sources, with hearty satisfaction. ..." 

A few days later Prince Henry returned from a two 
years' stay in far Asia as commander of a German 
naval division there, and on the 13th he arrived in 
Berlin, where the Kaiser addressed him in a welcoming 
speech during the family banquet served at the royal 
castle. He said: 

"... With all my heart I bid you welcome to our 
fatherland and to our capital. Two years ago I sent 
you to carry out a task I had set you in far Asia, 
and had to leave it to God whether He would pro- 
tect you and grant fruition to your endeavors. The 

287 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

jubilant and enthusiastic reception by every class of 
the population of my residential city of Berlin has 
furnished the proof that our whole people have ac- 
companied you with their wishes and sympathies in 
the fulfilment of the duties imposed upon you and 
which you have so successfully discharged. But this 
reception has another and a deeper meaning. It is 
an unmistakable token for the thoroughness of convic- 
tion, which has meanwhile made headway within the 
nation, how indispensable to our national welfare is the 
strengthening of our sea-power. The German people, 
together with its princes and Kaiser, is now convinced 
that it must mark a new epoch in its mighty develop- 
ment by the creation of a large navy commensurate in 
its power and size. ..." 

The attainment of his majority by the Crown-prince 
— which is fixed by the imperial constitution at the 
completed eighteenth year — fell on May 6, 1900. It 
was celebrated with a whole series of gorgeous court 
and military festivities. The Emperor of Austria- 
Hungary and a number of other sovereigns came to 
assist in these. Special honors and privileges were 
conferred on this youth during the day. Frederick 
William, the Crown-prince, who was then still an un- 
spoiled boy, bore them all meekly and modestly. His 
father seized upon the favorable occasion to make a 
number of speeches and to propose some toasts. In 
the morning, after the Crown -prince had been for- 
mally enrolled and inducted into the ist Grenadiers 
as its youngest lieutenant, and after this regiment had 
been renamed ** Crown -prince" in his special honor, 
his father addressed the young man, in the presence 
of a delegation from that regiment. The Kaiser drew 
a parallel between his son's ''crown-princeship" and 
that of his own father. He admonishecj his son to 

288 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

strive earnestly after the laurels and the universal af- 
fection which his grandfather had won during the 
many years he had borne the title of crown-prince, 
saying: 

" . . . It will require the work of a lifetime and 
your whole efforts to maintain the position of crown- 
prince in such manner as it has lived in the hearts and 
affections of the nation and of the army. First as 
Crown-prince of Prussia, next as Crown-prince of the 
German Empire, as that had been welded together in 
1870-71, this imposing figure, whose last days were 
filled with such imparalleled suffering, looms in history, 
lives in the hearts of the German people, as the Crown- 
prince par excellence. The great position which your 
grandfather has given to the office of German Crown- 
prince in the eyes of the world and in those of the 
nation is an inheritance which you must strive to 
preserve intact, or, if possible, to increase. Be sure of 
this, that it will need all the strength of your young 
manhood to carry out satisfactorily this high and 
noble task. ..." 

During the banquet in the afternoon the Kaiser 
made a somewhat lengthy speech, in which he said: 

"... The appearance here of your Majesties and 
the sending of so many cousins on the part of European 
sovereigns have made of a simple family fete a world- 
historical moment of the first magnitude. ..." 

He then proceeded to declare his conviction that the 
presence of so many august guests was due to the 
common bonds uniting them all, and that their houses 
all rested on the same foundation on which the Hohen- 
zollern dynasty had been erected — on "tradition," by 
19 289 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

which, as he further explained, he meant ''hard, 
serious work, in slow but steady upbuilding of their 
powers and those of their countries, and in the joint 
endurance of evil days and the joint enjoyment of 
good days by ruler and subjects alike." The Kaiser 
then added: 

" Borne by the consciousness of the tasks which God 
Himself has put before them, my ancestors have laid 
the foundations. This consciousness of a divinely ap- 
pointed task is shared with us by every other monarch 
and ruler." 

Several weeks later, in presenting his son to the 
ist Guards in Potsdam, on May 30th, the Kaiser said: 

" I have the fullest confidence in my regiment that it 
will prove in the case of my son what it has proved in 
the case of so many Prussian kings, princes, and excel- 
lent generals — namely, a matchless educational school 
for the officer. 

" In his own case I hope and trust that he will ex- 
perience the same enjoyment in mingling, in the ranks 
of my own dear company, with the men and officers, 
and that he will acquire the same amount of con- 
fidence which I succeeded in earning for myself under 
the same circumstances, and that he will feel intimate- 
ly interested in his comrades as members of the same 
army and of the same country. 

"Thus I hand over to you my son, in the expecta- 
tion that he will one of these days become an efficient 
Prussian officer and a good soldier." 

At the laying of the foundation of the reconstructed 
Saalburg, an ancient Roman fort, near Homburg, on 
October 11, 1900, the Kaiser was present. He sent, in 

290 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

a jocular vein, a telegram couched in the Latin tongue 
to the leading German archaeologist, Professor Momm- 
sen, as follows: 

"Theodoro Mommseno, antiquitatum Romanorum 
investigatori incomparabili, praetorii Saalburgensis fun- 
damenta jaciens salutem dicit et gratias agit Guliel- 
mus Germanorum Imperator." ^ 

To which the octogenarian veteran of science, entering 
into the spirit of the message, promptly replied in kind. 

In the presence of the Kaiser, and of the whole 
imperial family, the dedication of a church in Konigs- 
berg, built in memory of Queen Louise of Prussia, took 
place on September 9, 1901, and later on the same day 
the Kaiser made a speech in which he paid a high 
tribute to that unfortunate lady, saying: 

"... In a reverential spirit the memory of that 
beautiful and most womanly and wifely Queen has 
been mentioned to-day. Among Europe's queens she 
shines as a brilliant star, one whom, for those born to 
the purple, it is a special duty to strive after. ..." 

Then the Kaiser, referring to the fact that he had 
caused the insignia of German imperial power to be 
placed, as if for adoration, on an altar of a local church, 
where they had been gazed at from a respectful dis- 
tance by thousands of the people of Konigsberg, said : 

"To emphasize anew the fact that the kngdom of 
Prussia, and issuing thence the German Empire, has 
taken its rise in Konigsberg and in this province of 



* " William, Kaiser of the Ger- 
mans, laying the foundation to 
the Saalburg, sends greetings and 

291 



thanks to Theodore Mommsen, 
the incomparable investigator of 
Roman antiquities." — Ed. 



f THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

East Prussia, I brought my imperial insignia with me 
here, and had them placed yesterday on God's altar, 
so that your eyes might see them and the divine 
blessing might once more be implored for them, on the 
same altar where once stood Emperor William the 
Great and placed on his head that crown which he 
deemed solely derived from God. ..." 

The ceremony wound up with the presentation of a 
curious "double portrait," painted at the Kaiser's per- 
sonal orders, and showing, side by side, the first King 
of Prussia, Frederick I., who crowned himself in 1701, 
and William II., the present ruler, both monarchs ap- 
pearing in resplendent regal robes on the canvas. 

On June 18, 1902, the student Corps Borussia, of the 
University of Bonn, of which the Kaiser had been an 
active member during his university days, commemo- 
rated the seventy - fifth anniversary of its existence. 
This was done with the usual accompaniment on such 
occasions in German universities — i. e., a plenitude of 
beer and song in the quarters of the "corps." The 
Kaiser and his eldest son, the Crown-prince, attended 
as members, while a number of invited ladies, among 
them the Empress and several court ladies, sat in the 
gallery above the scene. At a point in the proceed- 
ings the Kaiser assumed the presidency of the Com- 
mers,^ and toasted his spouse in the following strain : 

"When our ancestors rode into the tournament, a 
wreath of beautiful ladies surrounded them, looking 
down upon the doughty warriors. Never in the his- 
tory of German universities has one of them been 
honored as this one is honored to-day. Right here 



^Commers is a peculiar Ger- 
man student festivity, which con- 
sists in drinking a lot of beer 



according to certain rules, and 
in singing and speech - mak- 
ing. — Ed. 



292 



THE KAISER AND HIS FAMILY 

in charming Bonn, surrounded by princely, high-born 
ladies, her Majesty the Empress has appeared, the 
first sovereign lady who has attended a commers of 
the students. This unparalleled honor, however, has 
been shown to the city of Bonn, and within Bonn 
to the Corps Borussia. I hope and expect that all 
young Borussians upon whom the eyes of her Majes- 
ty dwell to-day will thereby be consecrated for their 
whole lives. But we down here, whether general or 
statesman, whether lieutenant or rustic younker, all 
join in gratitude to bow before her Majesty the Em- 
press. We rub an extra strong salamander upon the 
health of her Majesty." 

In explanation of the above, those readers not 
familiar with German university customs need, per- 
haps, be told that to ''rub a salamander" is the 
greatest honor done by the corona (all present), and 
consists in rattling your tumbler or tankard on the 
table in quick succession and all keeping time, winding 
up with a sharp tap, then everybody poising his vessel 
in midair and gulping down its contents a tempo, and 
next slamming the empty vessel on the sloppy table 
with a noise like reverberating thunder. The more 
exact all this is done, and the greater the volume of 
noise produced, the greater the honor conferred on 
the person in whose behalf the curious feat has been 
performed. 

The Corps Borussia, which was thus ''honored" by 
the presence of the Empress, is the one which admitted, 
a twelvemonth before, the young Crown-prince as a 
member, the Kaiser personally accompanying and ini- 
tiating his son. The drinking on that night is said to 
have been particularly hard. The members of this 
"corps" are all scions of ultra-loyal Prussian families, 
mostly of the wealthier land-holding or " younker " class. 

293 



XIX 

THE KAISER AS MARGRAVE OF BRANDENBURG 

Feels special pride in the title — Reasons for his intimate re- 
lations with the representatives of this province — Calls 
it the cradle and primal source of Hohenzollern power — 
His sensational and frank utterances before the Branden- 
burg Provincial Chanibers — Terms Bismarck, Moltke, and 
Roon "mere tools of the august will" of William I. — 
Emphasizing the divine right of monarchs. 

Most characteristic of the Kaiser's real self, be- 
cause most unguarded and impulsive, are the speeches, 
toasts, and chance remarks he has made, both before 
and after his accession, in the presence of the Provincial 
Chambers of Brandenburg. Before the delegates to 
this body and the high government and administrative 
officials attending the annual banquets given by the 
chambers, the Kaiser feels himself exclusively in his 
capacity of Margrave of Brandenburg. This being 
the oldest rank in point of time which his ancestors 
acquired when they came, five hundred years ago, 
from their southern home into Brandenburg, then 
desolate and poverty-stricken, obeying the mandate 
of an early German emperor, and a rank they held 
for long generations before being promoted to the 
higher dignity of elector of the old empire, there is, 
perhaps, a poetical or sentimental reason why the pres- 
ent Kaiser should cherish it as much as he does. 

At any rate, the fact admits of no dispute that 
William II. has always given fuller vent and more 

294 



KAISER AS MARGRAVE OF BRANDENBURG 

unrestrained expression to his real views and senti- 
ments on public and personal questions when facing 
these friendly and discreet audiences of Brandenburg 
notables than he has done anywhere else. Many of 
his most sensational utterances, several of those which 
outside of this small gathering met with almost uni- 
versal condemnation, were made before ''his Branden- 
burgers." But many of his remarks here, also, afford 
intelligent, explanation of a certain line of poHcy fol- 
lowed by him, or of actions done by him, and some of 
them are nothing less than interesting ''documents 
humains,'' in Zola's sense. His abnormal confidence 
in his own abilities, his own wisdom, his own prow- 
ess, found here likewise startling expression. Here he 
complains of being misunderstood and misinterpreted, 
and here he announces what he means to do, either in 
the near future or in remoter times. 

His speeches and off-hand conversations on social 
occasions before "his Brandenburgers " have not been 
recorded during the years he was still ''plain Prince 
William," but those made since his accession were all 
carefully preserved, and the most sensational of them 
have crept into print. 

In March, 1889, at a plenary session of these Provin- 
cial Chambers of Brandenburg, he said: 

*' . . . The first and noblest name in my great royal 
title is that of Margrave of Brandenburg, and as such 
I consider myself, of course, exclusively when I am 
among you, as your direct and immediate chieftain, 
and deem it my duty to be one of you whenever you 

assemble. 

"The year just past has brought us trying times, 
such as no other people or family scarcely ever passed 
through. So far as history teaches us, there has 
never been a case like ours. We lost two kings. I 

295 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

myself saw within a few months both grandfather and 
father pass away. I think that is a hard enough 
schooHng for a yonng gentleman that is called to rule 
over such a country. ..." 

The year following, on March 5, these same Provin- 
cial Chambers gave a banquet at the Hotel Kaiserhof , 
in Berlin, and the young Kaiser spoke at length, saying : 

"... The intimate connection existing between the 
Hohenzollerns and Brandenburg, often admired by and 
incomprehensible to foreigners, is based in the main 
on the fact that, contrary to other states, it was the 
privilege of the Brandenburgers to be permitted to 
prove their fidelity to the House of Hohenzollem at 
periods of gravest calamity and in times of the most 
terrible public disaster. . . . 

" . . . During my travels, of which your presiding 
officer spoke just now, I pursued not alone the aim to 
become acquainted with foreign countries and foreign 
political institutions, to nurture friendly relations with 
the rulers of neighboring countries — no, I had other 
things in mind. These journeys of mine, misinterpret- 
ed in many ways, possessed a high value for me, for 
they enabled me, removed for a space from the partisan 
contests of the day, to view our internal affairs, so to 
speak, from a distant perspective, and thus to examine 
them with greater leisure and without bias. Whoever 
has stood alone on the broad ocean, quietly ruminating 
upon the commander's bridge, nothing but God's 
starry sky above him, and has allowed his thoughts to 
roam at will, or concentrated them upon some par- 
ticular problem, will not deny the great value of such 
journeys. I would give much if many of my country- 
men might be also allowed to indulge in such calm 
reflection, away from momentary disturbances, hours 

296 



KAISER AS MARGRAVE OF BRANDENBURG 

when man can give an account to himself what he has 
striven for and what he has actually accomplished. 
At such times one is cured of a too high opinion of one's 
own worth — and that is something which all of us 
need. . . . 

"... My late grandfather deemed his position a 
task set him by God Himself, and in whose accomplish- 
ment he had to spend all his strength, to the very last 
breath. His way of thinking is mine, and I perceive 
in the country and people come to me by inheritance 
a treasure intrusted to me by God. To increase and 
multiply this is, as the Bible tells us, my duty, and I 
shall have to give an accounting some day how I have 
made use of it. I mean to use my opportunities well, 
so that, as I hope and trust, I shall be able to add 
in time much and many things to the original inher- 
itance. 

''Those who are willing to help me in this work will 
be heartily welcomed by me, no matter who they be. 
But those who should oppose me in this work I will 
crush. 

" If serious times should come, I feel confident of the 
fidelity of my Brandenburgers, and I hope they will 
help me faithfully in the discharge of my duties. ..." 

On February 20, 1891, the Kaiser again faced his 
Brandenburgers, the occasion being a similar one, and 
said: 

"... I rejoice with all my heart that it was vouch- 
safed me to spend another evening with you. It feels 
good to meet in this way men of whom one knows that 
they think and feel the same way about important 
questions. ..." 

The speaker then gave a general survey of his 

297 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

doings and experiences during the past year so far as 
domestic affairs were concerned, and then continued: 

"... I stood last year on a spot dear to all of us — 
I might say sacred ; this spot is Memel. I was there 
in the small house where my great-grandparents lived 
and had their being in a time of severe trial and 
anxiety, a time when our country lay crushed, a prey 
to the conqueror and almost without hope of a brighter 
future. And yet it was precisely from there, and when 
nobody knew or even dreamed of resurrection for the 
country, that the beginnings of our greatness of to-day 
took their rise. Kingship, holding fast to God, to 
faith, to duty; the people, still relying on the hand of 
their royal guide. These two united again, and in this 
fidelity, this unbroken faith in each other, lies con- 
cealed the greatness, the secret of our fatherland's 
rise. I know very well that in our time systematic 
attempts are being made to trouble the minds of the 
people. The spirit of disobedience stalks through the 
land ; clothed in a glitteringly seductive garb, it seeks 
to win away from me the affection and trust of my 
people, of the men who remain faithful to me. It 
employs an ocean of printer's ink trying to befog the 
judgment of my people, and yet these machinations are 
vain, for their ulterior purpose must be plain to every- 
body who knows me and the principles which guide 
me. . . . 

'' I do not believe that the men of Brandenburg will 
hesitate to follow me in the paths which I tread. You 
know that I look upon my position and upon my 
whole task as one set me by Heaven, that I am merely 
executing the mandates of One higher than I, and to 
whom I must one day render an account. I can 
assure you that no evening and no morning passes 
without a prayer for my people, and especially for my 

298 



KAISER AS MARGRAVE OF BRANDENBURG 

Brandenburgers. Well, then, Brandenburgers ! Your 
margrave is speaking to you. Follow him through the 
thick of the fray, whatever betide and wherever he 
may lead you! You can rest assured that it will al- 
ways be a path that leads to the welfare and the great- 
ness of our fatherland. ..." 

A year later, on February 24, 1892, the Kaiser spoke 
again to the same men, and in a similar strain. Public 
criticism or censure for some of his acts during the 
preceding year, both at home and abroad, had ruffled 
his temper, and he was heard to the following effect : 

*' . . . With the hard toil devolving upon me, it is 
doubly a pleasure and boon to me, inspiriting and 
stimulating, to find here men who intelligently ap- 
preciate my efforts in behalf of the welfare of the 
nation. Unfortunately, it has become a habit to crit- 
icise everything proceeding from the government. On 
the most trivial pretexts the people's peace of mind 
is being disturbed, and their joy of living, their appre- 
ciation of the rapid growth and increasing prosperity 
of our entire, our great country, is being poisoned. 
From this habit of fault-finding, and from this sys- 
tematic attempt to besmirch everything in our land, 
the thought is finally engendered in the bosom of our 
people that our country is the unhappiest and worst- 
governed in the world, and that it means punishment 
to live in it. That this is not in accordance with the 
facts we all of us know, of course. But would it not 
be better, under the circumstances, if all these dis- 
satisfied fault - finders were to shake the German dust 
off their slippers and to withdraw themselves hur- 
riedly from these miserable and pitiable conditions? 
By so doing, at least, their own wish would be gratified, 
and as for us — why, they would do us a great favor. 

299 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

*' We are living in a transition period. Germany is 
gradually finding her baby shoes too small, and is 
stepping into maturity. It is time that we should rid 
ourselves of these baby complaints. We are now pass- 
ing through feverishly excited days and years, when 
the calmness of impartiahty is, I regret to say, too 
generally lacking. But quieter days will follow. . . ." 

The Kaiser then told an apt historical anecdote of 
Sir Francis Drake, and dwelt on the confidence in- 
spiring him in his duties as a ruler, continuing : 

*'To that must be added the sentiment of responsi- 
biHty towards the Most High which Hves in me, and 
my rocklike conviction that our Great Ally of Rossbach 
"and Dennewitz* will not fail me. He has taken such 
an amount of pains with our old Mark Brandenburg 
and with our House of Hohenzollern that it is not to 
be assumed He will have His pains for nothing. On the 
contrary, Brandenburgers, we are destined to great 
things, and I will lead you upward to joyous, glorious 
days. Do not let your judgment be clouded by all 
these fault-finders, nor blind your eyes to the bright 
future by grumblers, thus killing your joy in the work 
you share. Phrases alone will not do the work, and 
to those who ceaselessly throw out animadversions 
about the 'new course '^ I reply, calmly and firmly: 
'My course is the right one, and I will continue to 
steer it!'" 

In a speech to the same audience, a year later, the 
Kaiser said, among other things of less moment: 



' Meaning God. — Ed. 

^ ' ' The new course ' ' was a term 
which the " Bismarck press " had 
tacked to the Kaiser's novel pol- 



icy, so full of surprises and de- 
viating in so many ways from the 
steady and conservative policy 
of the Iron Chancellor. — Ed. 



300 



KAISER AS MARGRAVE OF BRANDENBURG 

"The sacred figure of our great, dead Emperor 
William is ever before us, recalling memories of his 
unprecedented achievements. How did he accomphsh 
them? Simply because my grandfather harbored m 
his soul the stanchest, most unshakable belief in his 
mission from God, a beHef to which he joined tireless 
zeal in the performance of duty. Behind him stood 
the Mark Brandenburg, stood the entire fatherland. 
In these traditions, gentlemen, I myself grew up, and 
was educated in them by him. I share his faith. My 
highest reward is, therefore, to work day and night 
for the welfare of my people. But I do not disguise 
from myself the fact that I cannot, shall not, succeed 
in ever rendering all the parts and classes of my peo- 
ple equally happy and contented. But I hope to be 
able to achieve this: to create conditions with which 
all those may be content who wish to be content. . . •" 

Again, on February 24, 1894, at the recurring annual 
dinner of the same Provincial Chambers, the Kaiser 
spoke at length. This time the vein was a happier one. 
He graphically outlined the history of Brandenburg, 
lauding the Great Elector and dwelling with emphasis 
on the duty of patriotism and on the divine right of 
kings. Then he continued: 

'' . . . Cultivate, therefore, the love for our country. 
Teach our youth to rejoice in belonging to a great, 
united German Empire, wherein, after all, Branden- 
burg is the chief tower of strength ! And if unsuccess- 
ful let them learn from other nations ! I will instance 
in this connection the Dutch people, near relations of 
ours by ties of blood and rehgion, and among whom 
the Great Elector was permitted to spend the years 
of his boyhood, to enable him later on to utilize m his 
own lands those things he had learned there. How 

301 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

firmly rooted in the popular mind is there the con- 
sciousness of those things which their dynasty achieved 
for Holland ! That is shown by a little, simple incident 
which happened when a poor Dutch farmer's wife, 
leading her babes by the hand, went up to the house 
in the walls of which can still be seen the bullet-holes 
made when William of Orange fell there, the victim of 
an assassin. And as the good-wife reached this spot, 
she pointed out these holes to her children, saying: 
'That is William!' 

"Well, we should do the same! Let us look back 
upon the year 1866, and upon the year 1870, and say: 
' That is William !' These are great things which my 
august ancestors have done for you, for all of us!" 

A twelvemonth later, on February 24, 1895, the 
Kaiser touched, in his talk to "his Brandenburg- 
ers," mainly on the agrarian problem in Germany, 
which was then agitating the mind of the nation. He 
said: 

"... The questions which momentarily call chiefly 
for solution regard, above all, the tillers of our soil. 
... I hope with all my heart that I shall succeed in 
achieving for you something permanently useful, and 
with all my power and ability will I work to that end. 
But I must warn you seriously not to indulge ex- 
travagant hopes, or to ask us to make an effort towards 
realizing Utopias. No calling or class has a right to 
demand preferment or advantages at the cost of all 
the others. It is the task of the monarch to weigh 
the interests of all classes of the population, one 
against the remainder, in order to safeguard the com- 
mon interests of the fatherland. ..." 

His speech a year later, to the same hearers, was 

302 



KAISER AS MARGRAVE OF BRANDENBURG 

devoted to a gigantic panegyric upon William I. Its 
most characteristic passage ran thus: 

" What we have lived to see, what has been achieved, 
we owe, after all, to nobody else but to the great Em- 
peror Wilham and to his faith in God. The whole 
series of fetes and celebrations last year, culminating 
in the glorification of this personality, become abso- 
lutely sainted and sacred for us. He embodies for us 
the unity of our longed-for, our new German father- 
land. It is our sacred duty to keep the holy memory 
of this personality intact and free of all blemish, and to 
defend it against whosoever it may be. . . ." 

On February 26, 1897, the Kaiser delivered an ad- 
dress to the same audience, in which he indulged in 
historical reminiscences, comparing conditions prevail- 
ing under the ancient German emperors with those now 
obtaining under his own rule, and pointing out that 
Frederick Barbarossa had been the only one of these 
old emperors under whom Germany could be said to 
have flourished. Then he outlined the career of his 
own grandfather, concluding with the words : 

'' . . . Gentlemen, if this august lord had lived dur- 
ing the Middle Ages he would have been canonized, 
and pilgrimages would have been undertaken from 
every country on the globe, to pray near his bones. 
But, thank the Lord ! that is still possible to-day. The 
gate to his tomb stands ajar. Every day in the year 
faithful subjects undertake pilgrimages there, taking 
their children by the hand. Foreigners, too, go there, 
to enjoy a look upon this grand old man and to gaze 
upon the images fashioned after him. . . . 

** A task devolving upon all of us, and which we, to 
keep the memory of this great man immaculate, must 

303 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

perform, is the fight against subversive tendencies and 
parties, to be carried on with every means at our dis- 
posal. That party which dares to assault the founda- 
tion of the state, which rebels against religion, and 
which does not even halt before the person of the most 
august ruler, must be overcome. I shall be glad to 
hold the hand of every man in my own, be he laborer, 
prince, or lord, who will engage to aid me in this fight. 
And this fight we can only bring to a victorious issue 
if we remember forever the man whom we have to 
thank for our fatherland, for the German Empire; in 
whose train there was, by God's decree, many an able, 
efficient adviser, men who had the honor of carrying 
out his ideas, but who were, nevertheless, but mere 
tools of his august will, inspired by the mind of the 
revered Emperor." 

Another speech of some length was made by the 
Kaiser on February 3, 1899, at the annual banquet 
given by the Brandenburg Chambers. He had listened 
with evident pleasure to the chairman's address glori- 
fying the deeds of the Hohenzollerns, and, in reply to 
this fulsome praise, stated : 

"... The one chief reason v/as that they, alone 
among all the other monarchs and at a time when such 
thoughts and sentiments were as yet scarcely * fashion- 
able,' represented and felt the ruler's personal responsi- 
bility to Heaven. The second reason was that they 
had the people of the Mark behind them. ..." 

Next he reviewed the events and impressions of his 
recent journey to Palestine, dwelling on some objection- 
able features that had struck him, among them the 
scarcity of forests and of trees generally in the Holy 
Land, a lack of charm in the barren landscape which 

304 .. 



KAISER AS MARGRAVE OF BRANDENBURG 

was specially distasteful to Germanic perceptions, for 
to the German the living, growing, majestic tree had 
since prehistoric times been an object of special af- 
fection and admiration, almost of veneration. Then he 
told in illustration this anecdote : 

" It was right after the great, inspiriting events of 
1870-7 1 . The armies had returned home. The jubila- 
tions and the enthusiasm of the people had calmed 
down, and now serious toil, notably the organization 
and the further development of the new-won father- 
land, was to begin. And so one day the three paladins 
of the great old Emperor sat down to meat together, 
for the first time since their return, and all by them- 
selves — the matchless general, the mighty chancellor, 
and the faithful war minister. And after the first glass 
had been emptied in honor of the monarch and the 
fatherland, the chancellor spoke, turning to his two 
companions, saying : ' We have attained all we fought 
for, toiled for, suffered for. We stand on the summit 
of all we have ever dreamed of. What now can come 
to us specially interesting, inspiring, or stimulating, 
after what we have lived to see?' There was a short 
pause, and then the white-haired leader of battles made 
answer, *To see the tree grow!' And there was deep 
silence in the room. 

*'Yes, gentlemen — to see the tree grow. The tree 
we want to see growing, and which we must help 
develop, is the sturdy oak-tree of the empire. . . . 

"... Safe is that peace behind which stands the 
German St. Michael, with his shield and sword. 

" It is, no doubt, a grand undertaking for all nations 
to bring about universal peace. But there is one mighty 
error in their calculations. So long as unredeemed sin 
rules mankind, so long shall we have war and hatred, 
envy and discord, and so long, too, will one man try 

305 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

to overreach the other. And what is true of indi- 
viduals is also true of nations. Therefore, we must 
endeavor, we Germans, to keep together like a solid 
block. And against this rocker de bronze, against this 
German nation, far away across the seas and at home 
in Europe, the breakers threatening peace will spend 
themselves in vain. ..." 



XX 

THE KAISER IN HIS UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 

As member of his "corps" in Bonn University — His connec- 
tion with it as alter Herr — Replying to a toast at a com- 
mers a year before his accession — As Kaiser he upholds 
the customary student duels — Initiating his eldest son in 
1 90 1 — Preaching the doctrine of nationalism to the stu- 
dents — His remarks about German enviousness — * ' We need 
personalities, men" — Emphasizing the need of ideals. 

When Prince William, then eighteen years of age, 
became a student at the university of Bonn, in 1877, 
he joined the local crack ''corps," the Borussia, a 
student organization to which ever since its infancy 
members of the Prussian royal house, as well as of 
other German sovereign houses, had belonged during 
their university days. Bonn is that university in Ger- 
many which has been all along the one where the 
young princes and other high-bom personages of the 
fatherland have gone by preference to study. This is 
in large part owing to the fact that a process of ''nat- 
ural selection" has been systematically at work — in 
fact, ever since its foundation, in 18 16 — making it 
the intellectual nursery of hereditary monarchism, of 
intense loyalty, and of approved political principles 
generally. And the Borussia, again, is that organized 
body of students there which embraces the picked 
representatives of all this. 

Prince William, during his two years' stay, heard 
lectures on Roman law, history, philosophy, exper- 

307 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

imental physics, history of the nineteenth century, 
German social economics, history of ancient art, Ger- 
man hterature, criminal law procedure, finances, aes- 
thetics, history of the Reformation, state and inter- 
national law, chemistry, political science, and Prussian 
administrative law. Some of these topics were treated 
for him in privatissima — i. e. , professors lectured to him 
in privacy. 

The young man held diligent intercourse with his 
fellows of the Borussia, attending their commers — or 
drinking and singing meetings — rather regularly, and 
showed himself a true corpsbruder, and hence earned 
the approval of the others, by manifesting more 
than the average carrying capacity for beer and 
other liquids. He is said to have been a jolly, deb- 
onair young man at that time, bubbling over with 
animal spirits. To this day he remembers with pleas- 
ure this period in his life. After his return to 
Berlin he made a point of attending the annual 
gatherings of former Borussians residing at the cap- 
ital. 

The sixtieth anniversary of the Borussia, which was 
celebrated with eclat at Bonn, in 1887, he witnessed 
as an invited guest in his capacity of alter Herr, or 
alumnus. In answer to a toast in honor of the Hohen- 
zollem dynasty. Prince William rose and made a 
speech. He thanked those present for their fidelity 
to the "monarchic principle"; pointed out that the 
colors of the Borussia, black-white-black, were also 
those of Prussia and of the Hohenzollern ; foreigners 
had often remarked that these colors were scarcely 
gay enough, but they corresponded with the history 
of Prussia and of his house, which told of many 
trials and vicissitudes. The Iron Cross, in its severe 
plainness, was a most fitting symbol of these strug- 
gles, which had lasted through centuries. These col- 

308 , 



THE KAISER IN HIS UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 

ors were a spur to the young Borussians to emulate 
their forebears in the strict fulfilment of duty. 

On May 7, 1891, three years after his accession, the 
Kaiser participated in the initial commers of the season 
and made a speech, in which he said : 

" I render thanks to the previous speaker, and to all 
the Bonn S. C.^ assembled here, for the cordial re- 
ception given me. I thank the S. C. particularly for 
the fine torchlight procession of the Bonn students 
which took place in my honor last night. . . . 

*'I subscribe, word for word, to the remarks of the 
previous speaker about the importance of * corps ' life, 
and about its educational value. . . . 

" Our mensuren^ are often misunderstood by the 
general public. But we must not mind that. We 
who have been ' corps ' students know what they mean. 
Just as during the Middle Ages jousts and tournaments 
served to steel men's courage and physical strength, 
so, too, the spirit and the customs of our ' corps ' serve 
to acquire that degree of firmness which is needed 
in later life and which German universities will furnish 
so long as they exist. 

*'You referred to my son. For this I thank you 
specially. I hope the boy will also be enrolled in the 
Bonn S. C, when he is old enough, and that he then 
will find the same friendly sentiments here which I 
have found." 

Ten years later, on April 24th, the young Crown- 
prince was immatriculated at the same University of 
Bonn, and entered the same ' ' corps, ' ' the Borussia. The 



* S. C. stands for "Seniors' 
Convent," formed by all the 
"corps" of a university town, 
and in which only the officers of 



each of them have a right to 
vote. — Ed. 

' Mensuren means students* 
duels. — Ed. 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

Kaiser had accompanied him, and was also present at 
the initiation of his son. A commers was given by 
the Borussia in honor of the young heir-apparent, and 
to an address by a student, Von Alvensleben by name, 
the Kaiser repHed at some length. He dwelt on his 
own student days, and then touched on various political 
aspects, saying: 

*' . . . You must be glad in your hearts at being 
young Germans, and when you stroll along the Rhine, 
when you wander afoot from Aix-la-Chapelle to May- 
ence — that is, from Charlemagne to Germany's heyday 
of glory, under the sceptre of the great Barbarossa, 
your soul must rejoice. 

" But why were all these earlier glories doomed to 
perish? Why did the old German Empire pine away? 

" Because it had not been founded on a strictly 
national basis. The universal idea in the old ' Roman 
Empire of German nationality' did not permit of a 
development in the German national sense. 

''The essence of a nation consists in its territorial 
limitation, corresponding with the individuality of a 
people and with its racial peculiarities. Thus it came 
to pass that Barbarossa's lustre paled and the territorial 
make-up of the old empire fell asunder, because it was 
hindered in the process of crystallization into a real 
national entity by its inherent universalism. . . . 

" Unfortunately, the significant phrase penned once 
by Tacitus, that great and keen-eyed writer on early 
Germany, the phrase propter invidiam, applies also to 
that phase in the development and in the misfortunes 
of the old empire. The princes envied the emperors 
their power, as they once did in the case of Arminius, 
despite his great victory. The nobility envied the 
burghers when these had become wealthy, and the 
peasant the noble. Propter invidiam — how much has 

310 



THE KAISER IN HIS UNIVERSITY RELATIONS 

our beautiful, our dear Germany suffered in its history 
because of this accursed enviousness! 

"... To-day you are Germans, dwelling on Ger- 
man soil, citizens of a strictly limited German nation, 
to aid in the welfare and further development of which 
you are here receiving the requisite knowledge. . . . 
The future expects and needs you. But do not waste 
your capabilities and gifts in cosmopolitan hallucina- 
tions, and do not use them in the service of one-sided 
party tendencies. You will have to help nurse the 
idea of firmer national cohesion and also of our ideals. 
Mighty were the intellectual heroes which the Ger- 
manic race has given birth to with God's help, from 
Boniface^ and Walter, of the Vogelweide, down to 
Goethe and Schiller, and they have been a light and a 
blessing to those who came after them. They exerted 
a universal influence, and yet were Germans in the 
strictly limited sense ! They were personalities — men ! 
These we need to-day more than ever. Strive to be- 
come such yourselves!" 

On the day following, April 25, 1901, the Kaiser 
attended the season's first commers, given by the 
Bonn S. C, and replied to an address by Colonel- 
General Baron von Loe, praising this ancient warrior 
for his juvenile enthusiasm; and then, turning to the 
throng of students, he said: 

"... I hope and expect that the young generation 
will enable me to maintain our German fatherland in 
the sense which I indicated yesterday — in its territorial 
limitation, embracing the German race, with neither 
malice nor favors towards any one. But if somebody 
should dare to attack us, I shall appeal to you, and 

' The Kaiser is here in error. 
Boniface, the "apostle of the Ger- 



mans," was himself an English- 
man, a native of Kirton. — Ed. 



311 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

I expect that you will not disappoint me.^ But, of 
course, youth needs ideals, men they can pattern 
and strive after. ..." 

On June i8, 1902, the Borussia celebrated in Bonn 
its seventy-fifth anniversary. At the banquet, after 
the president of the ''corps," W. von Bentivegni, had 
addressed the Kaiser, who was present with his eldest 
son, the monarch made some remarks appropriate to 
the occasion. He thought that young students should 
enjoy their youth and give vent now and then to the 
exuberance of their feelings, but all within bounds. 
Then he said: 

''But youth must have, above all, ideals to strive 
after, and when you look around in this circle you may 
thank Heaven for all the men that have issued from 
this corps, each of whom, in his own way and place, 
contributes to the greatness and prosperity of our 
country. . . . You were honored by seeing in your 
ranks the sons of sovereign princes, to aid them in 
preparing themselves for the grave duties and respon- 
sibilities of life. ... I rejoice with all my heart at 
being once more in the midst of young Borussians, for 
youth possesses daring, energy; it follows the leader 
when he calls, while maturer age sometimes doubts and 
hesitates. . . ." 



* In the German text the Kai- 
ser made use of a more homely 
phrase — namely, "Ich erwarte, 
dass Sie Mich nicht sitzen lassen," 



the equivalent in as homely 
English being about, " I hope 
you will not let me get stuck." — 
Ed. 



XXI 

THE KAISER'S PALESTINE TRIP 

His speech to the German colony in Constantinople — Ad- 
vising the German Protestants in Jerusalem to show 
"Practical Christianity" — Expressing in Bethlehem his 
disappointment at prevailing conditions in the Holy Land 
— Disbelieves in proselytizing among Mohammedans — 
"Exempla docenf' — The Templar colony in Jerusalem — 
Assuring the Germans in Palestine of his protection — 
Telling the Mohammedans that the German Kaiser will 
be at all times their friend — Reply to welcoming words 
on his return. 

It was generally believed when the Kaiser set out, 
October ii, 1898, on a journey to Palestine, that 
political motives of a practical nature were at the 
bottom of this undertaking. There were a number 
of circumstances which lent color to this belief. And 
several events which happened since his return from 
the Sultan's domains furnished a partial corrobora- 
tion of this wide -spread assumption. It is indis- 
putable that since then — just to mention one impor- 
tant general fact — the personal relations between the 
Kaiser and the Sultan, as well as those between the 
countries of these two rulers, have become increasingly 
friendly. There have been exchanged gifts of great 
value between William II. and Abdul Hamid, a thing 
which had not occurred for centuries past between the 
Moslem autocrat and Christian potentates. The Bag- 
dad railway concession was granted to Berlin financiers 
since then. 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

However, it was at the time officially stated in Ger- 
many, and is still being insisted upon there, that 
William II. was not guided by grossly material in- 
centives in his trip to the Orient, but solely by reasons 
of a religious nature. And whether these were really 
the only ones or not, certain it is that ever since his 
boyhood days the Kaiser had frequently expressed a 
desire to view with his own eyes the scenery where 
the world-moving drama had been enacted nineteen 
hundred years before. The similar journey under- 
taken by his father, when Crown-prince, had made a 
strong and lasting impression on his youthful mind. 

The Empress accompanied him. They went by rail 
as far as Venice, and thence by water to Constantinople. 
On October i8th, he received in special audience a 
delegation from the large and influential German 
colony at Stamboul, telling them: 

" I thank you greatly for the words you have spoken 
and for the address you have handed me. It gave 
me great pleasure to learn, since my arrival here, from 
various sources, and more particularly from the ruler 
of this country, that the German colony in Stamboul 
occupies an important position and that it has acquired 
it solely by its own effort. In your address you point 
to the policy of my late grandfather. I will admit to 
you that I have adopted his policy for my own, know- 
ing of no better one to follow. And this policy has 
furnished proof that it is quite feasible for two great 
nations, although of different race and faith, to become 
good friends and to be useful to each other in the 
pursuance of an amicable competition. You your- 
selves prove this fact, for you have succeeded in 
winning a position here which is of great value to the 
German Empire, and I desire to acknowledge this 
explicitly, both in my own name and in that of the 

314 



THE KAISER'S PALESTINE TRIP 

empire. I trust this will remain so in the future, and 
you may hold yourselves assured of my constant care 
and of my protection." 

The Kaiser made a brilliant entry into Jerusalem on 
October 29th, and on the same day visited the Church 
of the Holy Sepulchre and also the newly erected 
Church of the Saviour, built by the German Protestants 
in Palestine, though greatly aided in this by funds con- 
tributed by the Kaiser. In the latter the Prussian 
Minister of Public Worship, Dr. Bosse, who, with a 
number of other German dignitaries, had accompanied 
the imperial couple, made a formal address, to which 
the Kaiser replied as follows : 

'' I thank you most sincerely for the sentiments you 
were good enough to voice. It gives me particular 
gratification to be able to witness the dedication of the 
Church of the Saviour erected by the Evangelical flock 
here. I owe this favor to the kindly feeHngs enter- 
tained for me by his Majesty the Sultan, and also to 
my father and grandfather. Mere words do not carry 
much weight in the Orient. I trust that the German 
Protestants will testify by their upright lives to the 
truth and worth of their religious belief. If they will 
follow this advice God's blessing will rest upon this 
new structure. I hope and expect this most fervently. 
Tell this to all the Evangelicals, and especially to the 
German ones residing in this place." 

While in Bethlehem, October 30th, the Kaiser ad- 
dressed the people there assembled as follows : 

" If I am to speak of my impressions during the last 
few days, I must indeed say that I am vastly disap- 
pointed. And inasmuch as I hear that this feeling is 

315 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

shared to a great extent by others, among them my 
chief court preacher, I will not hide this feeling from 
you. Possibly the extremely difQcult and unpict- 
uresque approaches to Jerusalem contributed to it. 
However that may be, seeing actual conditions at the 
sacred places is enough to make one's heart bleed. And 
yet it is a tremendous fact, whose workings we trace 
even to-day — the emanation of the Creator's love for 
us! And how little does that which we actually see 
correspond to our apprehension of this fact. 

*'I doubly rejoice, therefore, at receiving here in 
Bethlehem my first inspiring impression through the 
means of the celebration I am witnessing in your 
midst. Let the horrible conditions prevailing in 
Jerusalem teach us the lesson to avoid, as far as 
possible, the accentuation of minor differences in our 
creed, and to present henceforth a solid phalanx in the 
Orient with our Evangelical Church and creed, else 
we can accomplish nothing. We can achieve results 
only by furnishing living examples, by illustrating in 
our own lives the truth that the gospel is a gospel of 
love, that its influence is universal, and that its fruits 
correspond with its teachings. As for the Moham-' 
medan population, the lives and the doings of the 
Christians can alone exert an influence. Nobody can 
blame them if they feel no respect for the Christian 
name, considering conditions here. In the profession 
of their faith the Christians here show discord and lack 
of cohesion. They have to be prevented by force of 
arms from coming to blows among themselves. And 
politically one shred after the other, on one pretext or 
another, is torn from Mohammedan sovereignty, al- 
though there is not even a shadow of justification for 
that. Under these circumstances it is not astonishing 
if the influence of the Christians has diminished steadily 
and has at last sunk to its present lowest ebb. 

316 



THE KAISER'S PALESTINE TRIP 

" And now our turn has come. The German Empire 
and the German name have now acquired throughout 
the empire of the OsmanH a higher reputation than 
ever before. It is for us at present to demonstrate 
what is really the essence of Christianity, and to show 
that the exercise of Christian love is our plain duty 
even towards the Mohammedan population. We must 
achieve good results not by insistence upon dogmas 
nor by controversy or systematic attempts at conver- 
sion, but solely by the strength of example. The Mo- 
hammedan is a very devout believer, and preaching 
alone will not accomplish much in his case. But our 
civilization, our institutions, the life we live, the manner 
of our personal intercourse with him, the proof that we 
are harmonious and peaceable among ourselves — that 
is the true way to convince him of the justice of our 
claims for the superiority of our religion. 

"We must stand at present a sort of test of otir 
Protestant faith and our professions, by which we 
must show to them what Christianity really means 
and by which we can enlist their interest for our re- 
ligion and for our Christian precepts. Strive to have 
this remain so." 

The day after, October 31st, the formal dedication 
took place of the Protestant Church of the Saviour in 
Jerusalem. At the conclusion of divine services, the 
Kaiser read the following : 

''God has permitted us in His grace to dedicate in 
this holy city, so dear to all Christianity, this place of 
worship erected in honor of the world's Saviour, That 
which my sires, now resting in God, had longed for and 
aspired to for half a century, has at last found fulfil- 
ment in the building and dedication of this Chiirch of 
the Saviour, fulfilment in the sense of my sires, as pro- 

317 • • 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

meters and protectors of Evangelical institutions. With 
the wooing force of humbly serving love, hearts are to 
be led here to that in which alone suffering humanity 
finds quiet, peace, and solace for time and eternity. 
With devout sympathy Evangelical Christianity, away 
beyond the confines of Germany, assists at our cele- 
bration to-day. The delegates of Evangelical Church 
communities and numerous individual members of 
them from all over the world have accompanied us 
here, in order to witness personally the closing scene 
in a work of faith and love whereby the name of our 
Lord and Saviour is to be exalted and the spread of 
God's reign on earth is to be promoted. Jerusalem, 
the City on High, in which our feet stand, recalls 
memories of the great deed of redemption done by 
our Lord and Saviour. This city bears testimony to the 
joint work which unites in the apostolic creed all the 
factions and nations bearing the name of Christians. 
The world-renewing power of the gospel, issuing from 
here, impels us to heed it, and it urges us on, in con- 
templating Him who died for us on the cross, to 
Christian tolerance, and to show love of our neighbor 
in our dealings with all men. It promises us that 
if we but persist faithfully in the pure teachings of the 
gospel, even the gates of hell shall not prevail against 
our dear Evangelical Church. From Jerusalem came 
the light of the world, whose splendor has aided our 
German nation so greatly in becoming powerful and 
respected. 

"What the Germanic peoples have become they 
have become under the banner of the cross of Golgotha, 
the symbol of self-sacrificing love of our neighbor. As 
it did nearly two thousand years ago, let to-day also 
ring out through the world the cry which embodies so 
much longing hope. Peace on earth ! It is not splen- 
dor, not glory, not power or honor, it is not earthly 

318 



THE KAISER'S PALESTINE TRIP 

goods we seek here. We pray and ask and strive for 
but this one thing, the highest good, the salvation of 
our souls. And as I renew to-day the vow of my sires, 
' I and my house will serve the Lord !' so I demand of 
you likewise the same pledge on this solemn day. Let 
each in his calling and place see to it that all who 
claim to be followers of the crucified Lord may lead 
lives in consonance with the precepts of our Lord, 
which will eventually triumph over all the dark powers 
having their root in sin and selfishness. God grant 
that from this spot may flow back over the whole of 
Christendom rich streams of blessing, that on the throne 
as in the hovel, at home as abroad, the fear of God, 
the love of our neighbor, patience in adversity, and 
labor diligently and honestly done may remain forever 
the noblest jewel adorning the German people, and 
that the spirit of peace may more and more penetrate 
and sanctify the Evangelical Church. He, our God of 
grace, will listen to our prayer, we may feel sure. He, 
the Almighty, is the strong tower on which we build. 
' With our might we are but slight, and soon are lost 
and done for; let right but fight, whate'er betide, for 
God Himself has said so. Our confidence is in Jesus 
Christ, and in the God of hosts ; there is no other help 
for us, and we will hold our posts!' " * 

On the occasion of a visit to the Templar colony in 
Jerusalem, November ist, the Kaiser listened to an ad- 
dress by the leader of the German colonists, Sander, 
and then replied : 

/*' I am glad to meet so many of my countrymen here, 
and I thank you for this cordial reception. It gives 
me pleasure to be able to say that you have made your 

^ The Kaiser quoted here from an old German hymn. — Ed. 



THE KAISER^S SPEECHES 

practical conduct in life a good example to your neigh- 
bors, showing thereby the true way to make the Ger- 
man name respected in these parts. You have done 
honor to Germany by your successful labor and your 
genuine piety, a fact of which my visits to your other 
colonies had already convinced me, and have earned a 
fine reputation and furnished proof how bari'en fields 
may be made to blossom and bear fruit. In your ma- 
jority you are, I believe, Suabians, and I have tele- 
graphed the King of Wiirtemberg that I have found 
his countrymen in Haifa and Jaffa in a prosperous 
condition. I received a pleasant reply from him, and 
he asked me to convey to you his good wishes. You 
are really better off here than we others, since you live 
in the immediate vicinity of the sacred places, whence 
you may perennially draw inspiration. I hope that 
our relations with the Osmanli Empire, and more 
especially the friendship existing between myself and 
his Majesty the Sultan, will make your tasks here 
lighter than they otherwise might be. If any one of 
you at any time should require my protection, you 
know that I am ready to assist him; let him apply to 
me, no matter what his creed, and I am glad to say that 
the German Empire is now strong enough to afford 
adequate protection to its members in foreign parts." 

At the tomb of the famous Sultan Saladin, in Da- 
mascus, on November 8th, the Kaiser made another 
speech, saying: 

" In the face of all the courtesies extended to us here, 
I feel that I must thank you, in my name as well as 
that of the Empress, for them, for the hearty reception 
given us in all the towns and cities we have touched, 
and particularly for the splendid welcome extended 
to us by this city of Damascus. Deeply moved by this 

320 



THE KAISER'S PALESTINE TRIP 

imposing spectacle, and likewise by the consciousness 
of standing on the spot where held sway one of the most 
chivalrous rulers of all times, the great Sultan Saladin, 
a knight sans peiir et sans reproche, who often taught his 
adversaries the right conception of knighthood, I seize 
with joy the opportunity to render thanks, above all to 
the Sultan Abdul Hamid for his hospitality. May the 
Sultan rest assured, and also the three hundred million 
Mohammedans scattered over the globe and revering 
in him their caliph, that the German Emperor will be 
and remain at all times their friend." 

This speech was adversely criticised, not alone almost 
everywhere outside of Germany, but also in the press 
of the fatherland itself. Some of this German com- 
ment in the opposition press gave rise to a number of 
trials and convictions for lese majeste. 

On December i, 1898, the imperial couple returned 
to Berlin. The ceremony was invested with all the 
pomp and circumstance which would have graced the 
triumphal entry of a conquering hero. The Kaiser 
and his consort on that day left the Chateau of Bellevue, 
and proceeding in great state and with a numerous and 
brilliant retinue to the Brandenburg Gate of Berlin, 
they were solemnly received there by the civic au- 
thorities, headed by Burgomaster Kierschner, who read 
an elaborate address. To this the Kaiser responded as 
follows : 

''Jointly with the Empress, I thank you cordially for 
the reception which you tendered us in the name of the 
city of Berlin. After our long journey I am glad to 
see once more my native city. However, our trip was 
prolific in strong impressions as to religion, art, and 
industry. 

*' Of all these I will to-day mention but this welcome 
ai 321 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

fact : That everywhere, on the seas and on shore, and 
in all the cities we have seen, the German name has 
acquired a meaning higher than it ever had before. 
Everywhere it is honored and respected. I venture 
to hope that this is how it will remain, and that our 
journey will have contributed to open up new paths 
for German energy and German knowledge to tread. 
And I also hope that I have done something towards 
preserving the blessing of peace for all nations." 



XXII 

THE KAISER AS A PULPIT ORATOR 

His sermons on board the Hohenzollern usually delivered off- 
hand, without notes — Interesting changes in his religious 
tenets — As a pulpit orator he shows a striking resemblance 
to sensational preachers in this country. 

In the German navy there is a rule to this effect: 
In the temporary or permanent absence of a chaplain, 
one of the higher officers forming part of the ship's 
complement is ordered to conduct divine services on 
board, both on Sunday and other appropriate oc-. 
casions. These services are usually of a very simple 
nature, consisting in the reading from a book of Bible 
texts, a prayer, and a short and pithy sermon. 

The Kaiser, however, proceeds otherwise. He looks 
up one or more suitable texts from his Bible, and then, 
after reading them, delivers, as a rule, a sermon off- 
hand, varying in length according to the number of 
ideas and object-lessons which these texts suggest to 
him, the whole winding up with a short prayer. There 
have, however, been exceptions to this, as when, 
during the period of the troubles in China, he made to 
the crew of his own yacht, the Hohenzollern, and to 
those of various German war vessels, addresses of a 
semi-religious nature in lieu of regular divine service, 
in which the warlike note predominated, several times 
to an amazing degree, the language in which they 
were couched being, now and then, of a rather boast- 
ful and self -glorifying character. 

323 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

Whenever the Kaiser is on board any war vessel, or 
the Hohenzollern, of a Sunday, he invariably conducts 
these services personally. It is rather a pity that lit- 
tle has become known about the hundred-and-odd ser- 
mons and religious addresses delivered by him during 
the past fifteen years on these occasions. Yet it is 
but natural that this should be so, inasmuch as no pro- 
vision was ever made to reproduce or preserve them, 
and as outsiders were rigidly excluded. Only a sin- 
gle one of his sermons has crept into pubHcity in its 
entirety, its authenticity being undisputed. This he 
delivered, July 29, 1900, on board the Hohenzollern, 
off Heligoland, and it was as follows : 

'' Seventh Sunday after Trinity.— The grace of our 
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the com- 
munity of the Holy Ghost be with us all. Amen. 

''Text: 2 Mos. 17th chapt. nth verse: But as long 
as Moses held up his hands, praying, Israel prevailed ; 
but when he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed. 
Amen. 

"An imposing picture it is which to-day's text pre- 
sents to our souls. There is Israel, making its way 
through the desert, coming from the Red Sea and on 
towards Mount Sinai. But of a sudden the heathen 
Amalekite people stop their progress, and a battle 
ensues. Joshua leads the young men of Israel into 
the fray ; swords rattle and meet, and a hotly contested, 
bloody struggle sets in, down in the vale of Raphidim. 
But see, while the battle moves hither and thither, 
those devout men of God, Moses, Aaron, and Hur, 
climb up the mountain - side, and stretch out their 
hands towards Heaven; they pray. Below in the 
valley the warring throng; up on the mountain the 
praying three. That is the warlike picture of our 
text. 

324 



THE KAISER AS A PULPIT ORATOR 

''And who to-day does not understand what lesson 
it conveys? For again the pagan spirit of Amalek 
has stirred in far Asia, and with great cunning and 
power, with fire and murder, they seek to hinder the 
triumphal march of Christian morals, of Christian faith, 
of European commerce and education. And again God 
has ordered : * Choose men ; go forth and fight against 
Amalek!' A grim, a terrible struggle has begun. Al- 
ready many of our brothers there are in the combat ; 
many more are now on their way to the hostile coasts. 
You have seen them, those thousands who, answering 
the call, * Volunteers to the front! Who will protect 
the empire?' are now gathering, and who will soon 
join in the fight with flying banners. 

'' But we, remaining behind here at home, restricted 
by other and sacred duties, do we not hear the words 
of God, spoken to us, saying : * Go up on the moun- 
tain-side! Lift up thine hands to the Most High!' 
The prayer of the just accomplishes much if it be but 
said with all our strength and faith ! 

''Well, then. Far away the ranks of warriors, and 
here at home the ranks of the praying — let that also 
be the holy battle-picture for to-day ! Let this peace- 
ful morning hour remind us of the sacred duty of 
prayer, of the sacred power of prayer. 

" The sacred duty of prayer. 

"Certainly it is an inspiriting moment wnen a ship 
heaves anchor, with a youthful crew on board! Have 
you not seen the eyes of the young warriors shining? 
Have you not heard their thousand- voiced hurrah? 

" But when the coasts of our native land dwindle and 
vanish, when the ship enters the torrid heat of the 
Red Sea, or when she plunges into the mighty waves 
of the ocean, how often does enthusiasm vanish, too, 
and how often does strength depart ! 

" Certainly an inspiriting moment when, after a long 

325 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

journey, are seen, far in the distance, the straight lines 
of the German forts, and the black-white-red flag of 
the German colony becomes visible, and when brothers- 
in-arms are awaiting your arrival ashore, shouting 
welcome in the mother-tongue! But later on, when 
begin endless marches under a fiery sun, and inter- 
minable nights, camping out in the rain, how easily 
then joy and courage ooze away! 

"Certainly a longed-for moment, that in which the 
drum beats to storm and the trumpets shriek to attack, 
when the order is shouted, ' On upon the enemy !' 

" But when in the midst of thundering cannon and in 
the midst of sputtering, screaming shells your com- 
rades are mowed down to right and left, and when the 
enemy's batteries will not be silenced, how often even 
a brave heart begins to tremble! 

"Christians! To enable your brothers out there to 
remain of joyful heart, to persist in their duty even 
when it is hardest, not to lose courage even in the 
greatest danger, it needs more than ammunition and 
good weapons, more than bravery and enthusiasm — 
it needs approval and encouragement from on high, 
else they cannot achieve victory. And this heavenly 
world can be unlocked solely by prayer. Prayer is the 
golden key to the treasure-chamber of our God. But 
whoever has it has also the promise. He who prays 
will also receive. 

"Or, indeed, are we to let our hands lie idly in our 
laps ? Woe to us if we are to remain idle and impassive 
while they are doing their hard, their bloody tasks! 
Woe to us if we are to be but curious spectators behind 
the bars of the great arena while they struggle tensely 
in the grip of death! That were the spirit of Cain, 
saying cruelly, 'Am I my brother's keeper?' That 
were treachery towards our brave brothers who are 
risking their lives! 

326 



THE KAISER AS A PULPIT ORATOR 

** No — thrice no! We will not only send out battal- 
ions of warriors. No! We will also aid them by a 
holy band of praying allies. 

"And how much, how many things, we have to ask 
God for our brothers going into the field of battle! 
They are to be the strong arm with which to punish 
the assassins. They are to be the mailed fist with 
which to set aright the murderous disorder. Their 
sword is to fight for our holiest treasures. 

'* Let us therefore accompany them with our prayers 
upon the deep sea, upon their weary marches, into the 
thunder of battle, and into the quiet of the hospital. 
And we will ask God, our Lord, to let them remain 
strong and manful in their duty, so that they will 
fight the foe heroically and undauntedly, that they 
will bear their wounds bravely and without complaint, 
and God will give a blessed end to those who fall under 
fire, and will reward them — in short, He will make 
heroes of our warriors, and conquerors of these heroes, 
and will lead them home again into the land of their 
fathers, the laurel wreath around their helmets, and 
the medal of honor on their breasts. 

''The sacred power of prayer. 

" Or do we not believe in the sacred power of prayer? 
Well, then, what says our text? 'As long as Moses 
held up his hands, praying, Israel prevailed !' The fer- 
vent prayers of Moses made the swords of the enemy 
dull, enabled his men to penetrate the hostile ranks like 
a phalanx, thus causing them to break and run, and 
pinned victory to the flying banners of Israel. And if 
the prayers of Moses accomplished this, is it to be 
thought that our prayers will prove of no avail? God 
has not taken back a single syllable from His promises. 
Faithful prayer can throw even to-day the dragon ban- 
ner into the dust and plant the cross upon the walls. 

" And Moses was not the only one whose prayer was 

327 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

heeded. Look, up on the heights of Sodom is Abra- 
ham, interceding with his God, and with his prayer he 
saves Lot from the burning city. Should it, then, be 
impossible for our prayers to rescue our fighting com- 
rades from the dangers of battle? 

''Look again, and in Jerusalem ye will see the 
young Christian community on their knees. Their 
leader, their father, lies a prisoner in jail. Yet with 
their prayers they summon the angel of God into jail, 
and he leads forth Peter, unscathed. 

''Are we, then, to suppose that our prayers will not 
be potent enough to open again the doors for those in 
need, for the prisoners, for those pursued, and to place 
at their side a guardian-angel ? 

**'0h, the power, unseen, unheard, 
Of a saintly pray'r! 
By the strength of faith and word 
Deeds are wrought fore'er." 

" Yes, the Lord liveth ! Our great Ally still reigneth. 
Our God liveth, the God who will not allow sin and 
crime to triumph, but who will conduct His holy cause 
against a wicked people. God Almighty, who can 
seize upon the strongest walls as if they were cobwebs, 
and who can scatter the mightiest armies like heaps of 
sand ; the compassionate, the faithful God, who bears 
upon His heart the weal or woe of every one of His 
children, and who hears every sigh and feels with us 
every sorrow. Pious prayer opens His fatherly hands, 
and they are filled with blessings. Fervent prayer 
unlocks His fatherly heart, and it is filled with love. 
Yes, faithful, incessant prayer brings down God Him- 
self from Heaven, and places Him in our very midst. 
And if God is for us, who can be against us? 

' The Kaiser here quotes from an early German hymn, — Ed. 

328 



THE KAISER AS A PULPIT ORATOR 

** Well, then, up in the Tauern Mountains, high above 
all, marvellous bells are hanging ! They are not rung 
by human hands. Still and silent they hang in sun- 
shine. But when storms arise they begin to swing, 
they begin to ring, and their ringing is heard far adown 
the valley.' 

"God our Lord has hung prayer -bells in every 
human heart. But, alas! in the sunshine and hap- 
piness of life tt\ey are mute and motionless. But 
when the storms of misery and disaster overtake us, 
how they do begin to ring ! And many a comrade who 
had forgotten how to pray learns out there how to fold 
his hands once again. Misery teaches us how to pray. 
And thus, too, it shall be at home. Let the dark 
days now upon us, let the war-clouds that have over- 
whelmed us, set the prayer -bells in rhythmic swing. 
Let us pray for our struggling brothers. And not only 
on festive occasions. No ! no ! Let us pray at all times. 
Just as our fathers during war-times caused the bells 
to ring every evening, baring their heads when the 
sound struck their ears, and praying, ' Remain with 
us, O Jesus Christ, since night is coming on !' so in like 
manner let never a day pass without interceding for 
your brothers at the throne of the Most High. Moses 
held up his hands on high until the sun went down 
and Joshua had smitten Amalek with the sharp edge 
of the sword. Our own battle is not fought within a 
single day. But do not weary. Do not let your hands 
sink until victory is won. Let our prayers be a wall of 
fire around the camp of our brothers. 

"And how it will strengthen, inspire, encourage 
them, the thought: Thousands — nay, millions — at 
home bear us in their praying hearts. The King of 
all kings calls: 'Volunteers to the front! Who will 

* There is an old German folk-lore tale to this effect. — Ed. 

3^9 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

pray for the fatherland?' Oh! if we could say: 'The 
King called, and all, all came. Let not a single one of 
us miss the summons. He is a man who knows how 
to pray.' 

" History some day will describe the battles of these 
present days. However, man sees but what is before 
his eyes, and he can but tell what the wisdom of the 
leaders, the courage of his men, the sharpness of the 
weapons have done. Eternity, however, will disclose 
to our gaze more than that, will show how the hidden, 
unseen prayer of the faithful and believing has been a 
great power in these battles, and how once more the 
promise of old has been fulfilled : * Call upon Me in 
thine distress, and I will save thee.' 

"And therefore: Cease not in your prayers. Amen. 

** Prayer. Almighty God, dear heavenly Father! 
Thou Lord of hosts and JLeader of battles! we lift 
up our hands to Thee in prayer. To Thee and Thy 
compassionate heart we commit those thousands of 
brothers - in - arms, far away from here, whom Thou 
hast called into battle. Extend, we beseech Thee, Thy 
all-powerful protection to the breasts of our sons, shield- 
ing them. Lead Thou our men to glorious victory! 
To Thy heart we commit our sick and wounded. Be 
their consolation and their strength, and heal Thou 
the wounds which they have received for king and 
fatherland. To Thy loving compassion and mercy 
we commit all those who are destined to die on distant 
battle-fields. Be with them in their last fight and 
give them peace everlasting ! To Thee we commit our 
nation. Preserve, sanctify, augment the enthusiasm 
which glows in us all. Lord, our God! we trust in 
Thee! Lead us in battle. We praise Thee, because 
Thou aides t us, and our flag is hoisted in Thy name. 
Lord, we will not cease to importune Thee unless Thou 
blessest us first. Amen." 

330 



THE KAISER AS A PULPIT ORATOR 

The Kaiser concluded his services by reciting the 
Lord's Prayer and by an invocation for the divine 

blessing. 

As remarked before, the above is the only one of the 
Kaiser's sermons which has been preserved as a whole. 
Fragments and telling phrases from others, however, 
have survived. He has often referred in his sermons 
to current political topics or controversies, and has not 
scrupled to invoke God's blessing and aid for meas- 
ures he deemed necessary to the welfare of the father- 
land; and, contrariwise, called upon God to punish or 
rebuke those men or measures which he deemed hurt- 
ful to himself or the country. There is throughout 
an Old -Testamentary flavor in his preaching. It is 
much oftener the God of wrath, the mighty Jehovah of 
the Jew, than the meek, loving, forgiving God of the 
Christian's New Testament whom he deals with in his 
prayers and sermons. 

In July, 1897, while in Scandinavian waters on 
board the Hohenzollern, the Kaiser, being then greatly 
wrought up about what he conceived to be the un- 
patriotic attitude of the Reichstag, and more par- 
ticularly of the Centre (Ultramontane) party in that 
body, preached a sermon which virtually consisted 
of a review of the situation from his own view-point. 
He spoke in it of the sacred trust committed to him of 
lifting the country up to a higher state of naval ef- 
ficiency, of the wilful blindness of the people's rep- 
resentatives, and then came to speak of the Centre. 
He chose to refer to the latter by names taken from 
the Apocalypse, and by no means flattering, such as 
the ''Great Beast," etc. 

A couple of months later, upon the reassemblmg of 
the Reichstag, the chief leader of the Ultramontane 
party. Dr. Lieber, first intended to introduce a reso- 
lution of indignation in censure of this language, but 

331 



THE KAISER'S SPEECHES 

finally contented himself with several references to it 
in his opening speech for the party. These strictures 
drew, however, no reply from either the government 
or the other parties. 

Thus it will be seen that the impulsiveness, not to 
say recklessness, which characterizes the Kaiser's pub- 
lic utterances, is not absent even in his personal inter- 
course with his Creator. And this, after all, is per- 
haps, psychologically considered, the most interesting 
trait in his sermons. 

There is, however, another point about him as a pul- 
pit orator which attracts our attention. He started 
out, fifteen years ago, as a professed champion of the 
strictly orthodox school of Lutheran theology, the 
school of which his then court preacher, Dr. Adolf 
Stocker, was and is the most noted chief in Ger- 
many. The narrow, rigid tenets that were inculcated 
by Stocker and his following were those which were 
given voice to by the Kaiser during the first period of 
his reign. But there has been a gradual though steady 
change. 

This is strikingly shown by the Kaiser's recent deal- 
ings with Professor Delitzsch, the eminent Assyriolo- 
gist, and with the Liberal wing of Protestant theology 
in Germany, having Professor Hamack at its head, 
and also by the quasi renewal of a profession of 
faith made by the monarch in a letter to Admiral 
Hollmann. 

In this letter, written at the instance of the Kaiser's 
present court preacher. Dr. Dryander, mainly with the 
intention to set at rest current rumors, widely credit- 
ed, as to the advanced heterodoxy of the Kaiser — a 
heterodoxy all the more serious because of his heredi- 
tary position of summus episcopus of the Protestant 
Church in Prussia — it is made very plain how much he 
has modified his earlier religious views. In fact, while 

3Z^ 



THE KAISER AS A PULPIT ORATOR 

administering a severe snub to Delitzsch, a professed 
infidel, he nevertheless admits far more in the shape 
of a rationalistic conception of religion, than the world 
at large had imagined he would. And that, too, por- 
trays an interesting process of evolution in his soul 
life. 



THE END 



R 17 1903 



